LOVE    IN    IDLENESS 


[wr 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS 


A   Tale  of  Bar  Harbour 


BY 


F.   MARION    CRAWFORD 

AUTHOR  OF  "  MR.  ISAACS,"  "  SARACINESCA,"  "  KATHARINE 
LAUDERDALE,"  ETC. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS   REPRODUCED  FROM  DRAWINGS 
AND   PHOTOGRAPHS 


. 


gork 
MACMILLAN    AND    CO. 

AND    LONDON 
1894 

All  rights  reserved 


1 


COPYRIGHT,  1894, 
BY   F.   MARION   CRAWFORD. 


Xorfoooti  $rrss : 

}.  S.  Cushin  j  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith. 
Boston,  Mass.-  U.S.A. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

'M  going  to  stay  with  the  three  Miss 
Miners  at  the.  Trehearnes'  place," 
said  Louis  Lawrence,  looking  down 
into  the  blue  water  as  he  leaned 
over  the  rail  of  the  Sappho,  on  the  sunny  side 
of  the  steamer.  "  They're  taking  care  of  Miss 
Trehearne  while  her  mother  is  away  at  Karlsbad 
with  Mr.  Trehearne,"  he  added,  in  further  ex 
planation. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Professor  Knowles,  his  com 
panion.  "  Yes,"  he  repeated  vaguely,  a  moment 
later. 


LOVE   IN    IDLENESS. 


"  It's  fun  for  the  three  Miss  Miners,  having 
such  a  place  all  to  themselves  for  the  summer," 
continued  young  Lawrence.  "  It's  less  amusing 
for  Miss  Trehearne,  I  daresay.  I  suppose  I'm 


Sappho. 


asked  to  enliven  things.     It  can't  be  exactly  gay 
in  their  establishment." 

"  I    don't   know    any  of  them,"   observed   the 
Professor,  who  was  a  Boston  man.     "  The  proba- 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  3 

bility  is  that  I  never  shall.     Who  are  the  three 
Miss  Miners,  and  who  is  Miss  Trehearne  ?  " 

«  Oh  —  you  don't  know  them  !  "  Lawrence's 
voice  expressed  his  surprise  that  there  should 
be  any  one  who  did  not  know  the  ladies  in 
question.  "  Well  —  they're  three  old  maids,  you 
know." 

"  Excuse  me,  I  don't  know.  Old  maid  is  such 
a  vague  term.  How  old  must  a  maid  be,  to  be 
an  old  maid?" 

«  Oh  —  it  isn't  age  that  makes  old  maids. 
It's  the  absence  of  youth.  They're  born  so." 

"  A  pleasing  paradox,"  remarked  the  Professor, 
his  exaggerated  jaw  seeming  to  check  the  uneasy 
smile,  as  it  attacked  the  gravity  of  his  colourless 
thin  lips. 

His  head,  in  the  full  face  view,  was  not  too 
large  for  his  body,  which,  in  the  two  dimensions 
of  length  and  breadth,  was  well  proportioned. 
The  absence  of  the  third  dimension,  that  is,  of 
bodily  thickness,  was  very  apparent  when  he 
was  seen  sideways,  while  the  exaggeration  of 
the  skull  was  also  noticeable  only  in  profile. 
The  forehead  and  the  long  delicate  jaw  were 


4  LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 

unnaturally  prominent;  the  ear  was  set  much 
too  far  back,  and  there  was  no  develop 
ment  over  the  eyes,  while  the  nose  was  small, 
thin,  and  sharp,  as  though  cut  out  of  letter 
paper. 

"  It's  not  a  paradox,"  said  Lawrence,  whose 
respect  for  professorial  statements  was  small. 
"  The  three  Miss  Miners  were  old  maids  before 
they  were  born.  They're  not  particularly  old, 
except  Cordelia.  She  must  be  over  forty. 
Augusta  is  the  youngest  —  about  thirty-two,  I 
should  think.  Then  there's  the  middle  one  — 
she's  Elizabeth,  you  know  —  she's  no  particular 
age.  Cordelia  must  have  been  pretty  —  in  a 
former  state.  Lots  of  brown  hair  and  beautiful 
teeth.  But  she  has  the  religious  smile  —  what 
they  put  on  when  they  sing  hymns,  don't  you 
know  ?  It's  chronic.  Good  teeth  and  resigna 
tion  did  it.  She's  good  all  through,  but  you 
get  all  through  her  so  soon !  Elizabeth's  clever 
—  comparatively.  She's  brown,  and  round,  and 
fat,  and  ugly.  I'd  like  to  paint  her  portrait. 
She's  really  by  far  the  most  attractive.  As  for 
Augusta  —  " 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  5 

"Well?      What    about    Augusta?"    enquired 
the  Professor,  as  Lawrence  paused. 

"Oh — she's  awful!  She's  the  accomplished 
one." 

"  I  thought  you  said  that  the  middle  one  — 
what's  her  name?  —  was  the  cleverest." 

"  Yes,  but  cleverness  never  goes  with  what 
they  call  accomplishments,"  answered  the  young 
man.  "  I've  heard  of  great  men  playing  the 
flute,  but  I  never  heard  of  anybody  who  was 
'  musical '  and  came  to  anything  —  especially 
women.  Fancy  Cleopatra  playing  the  piano  — 
or  Catherine  the  Great  painting  a  salad  of  wild 
flowers  on  a  fan !  Can  you  ?  Or  Semiramis 
sketching  a  lap  dog  on  a  cushion ! " 

"  What  very  strange  ideas  you  have ! "  ob 
served  the  Professor,  gravely. 

Lawrence  did  not  say  anything  in  reply,  but 
looked  out  over  the  blue  water  at  the  dark  green 
islands  or  the  deep  bay  as  the  Sappho  paddled 
along,  beating  up  a  wake  of  egg-white  froth.  He 
was  glad  that  Professor  Knowles  was  going  over 
to  the  other  side  to  dwell  amongst  the  placid 
inhabitants  of  North  East  Harbour,  where  the 


(]  LOVE  IN  IDLENESS. 

joke  dieth  not,  even  at  an  advanced  age ;  where 
there  are  people  who  believe  in  Ruskin  and 
swear  by  Herbert  Spencer,  who  coin  words  end 
ing  in  'ism,'  and  intellectually  subsist  on  the 
'ologies'  —  with  the  notable  exception  of  the 
ology.  Lawrence  had  once  sat  at  the  Professor's 
feet,  at  Harvard,  unwillingly,  indeed,  but  not 
without  indirect  profit.  They  had  met  to-day  in 
the  train,  and  it  was  not  probable  that  they 
should  meet  again  in  the  course  of  the  summer, 
unless  they  particularly  sought  one  another's 
society. 

They  had  nothing  in  common.  Lawrence  was 
an  artist,  or  intended  to  be  one,  and  had  recently 
returned  from  abroad,  after  spending  three  years 
in  Paris.  By  parentage  he  belonged  to  New 
York.  He  had  been  christened  Louis  because 
his  mother  was  of  French  extraction  and  had  an 
uncle  of  that  name,  who  might  be  expected  to  do 
something  handsome  for  her  son.  Louis  Law 
rence  was  now  about  five  and  twenty  years  of 
age,  was  possessed  of  considerable  talent,  and  of 
no  particular  worldly  goods.  His  most  impor 
tant  and  valuable  possession,  indeed,  was  his 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


character,  which  showed  itself  in  all  he  said  and 

did. 

There   is    something   problematic    about    the 
existence    of    a   young   artist  who  is  in  earnest, 
which    alone    is    an    attraction    in    the    eyes    of 
women.     The  odds    are    ten    to  one,  of   course, 
that    he  will    never    accomplish  anything    above 
the  average,  but  that  one-tenth  chance  is  not  to 
be  despised,  for   it    is  the  possibility  of   a  well- 
earned  celebrity,  perhaps  of  greatness.     The  one 
last  step,  out  of  obscurity  into  fame,  is  generally 
the  only  one  of  which  the  public  knows  anything, 
sees  anything,  or  understands  anything ;  and  no 
one  can  tell  when,  if  ever,  that  one  step  may  be 
taken.     There  is  a  constant  interest  in  expecting 
it,  and  in  knowing  of  its  possibility,  which  lends 
the    artist's    life  a  real  charm    in    his  own    eyes 
and  the  eyes  of  others.     And  very  often  it  turns 
out  that  the  charm  is  all  the  life  has  to  recom 
mend  it. 

The  young  man  who  had  just  given  Professor 
Knowles  an  account  of  his  hostesses  was  natu 
rally  inclined  to  be  communicative,  which  is  a 
weakness,  though  he  was  also  frank,  which  is 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


a  virtue.  He  was  a  very  slim  young  man,  and 
might  have  been  thought  to  be  in  delicate  health, 
for  he  was  pale  and  thin  in  the  face.  The  feat 
ures  were  long  and  finely  chiselled,  and  the 
complexion  was  decidedly  dark.  He  would  have 
looked  well  in  a  lace  ruffle,  with  flowing  curls. 
But  his  hair  was  short,  and  he  wore  rough  grey 
clothes  and  an  unobtrusive  tie.  The  highly 
arched  black  eyebrows  gave  his  expression 
strength,  but  the  very  minute,  dark  mustache 
which  shaded  the  upper  lip  was  a  little  too 
evidently  twisted  and  trained.  That  was  the 
only  outward  sign  of  personal  vanity,  however, 
and  was  not  an  offensive  one,  though  it  o-ave 

3  O 

him  a  foreign  air  which  Professor  Knowles 
disliked,  but  which  the  three  Miss  Miners 
thought  charming.  His  manner  pleased  them, 
too;  for  he  was  always  just  as  civil  to  them  as 
though  they  had  been  young  and  pretty  and 
amusing,  which  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  the 
majority  of  modern  youths.  His  conversation 
occasionally  shocked  them,  it  is  true;  but  the 
shock  was  a  mild  one  and  agreeably  applied,  so 
that  they  were  willing  to  undergo  it  frequently, 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


9 


Lawrence  was  not  thinking  of  the  Miss  Miners 
as  he  watched  the  dark  green  islands.  If  he 
had  thought  of  them  at  all  during  the  last  half- 
hour,  it  had  been  with  a  certain  undefined  grati 
tude  to  them  for  being  the  means  of  allowing 


him  to  spend  a  fortnight  in  the  society  of  Fanny 
Trehearne. 

Professor  Knowles  had  not  moved  from  his 
side  during  the  long  silence.  Lawrence  looked 
up  and  saw  that  he  was  still  there,  his  extraordi 
nary  profile  cut  out  against  the  cloudless  sky. 


10  LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 

"  Will  you  smoke  ?  "  enquired  Lawrence,  offer 
ing  him  a  cigarette. 

"  No,  thank  you  —  certainly  not  cigarettes," 
answered  the  Professor,  with  a  superior  air. 
"  You  were  telling  me  all  about  the  Miss 
Miners,"  he  continued;  for  though  he  knew 
none  of  them,  he  was  of  a  curious  disposition. 
"  You  spoke  of  a  Miss  Trehearne,  I  think." 

"  Yes,"  answered  the  young  man.  "  Do  you 
know  her  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no.  It's  an  unusual  name,  that's  all. 
Are  they  New  York  people  ?  " 

Lawrence  smiled  at  the  idea  that  any  one 
should  ask  such  a  question. 

"  Yes,  of  course,"  he  answered.  "  New  York 
—  since  the  Flood." 

"  And  Miss  Trehearne  is  the  only  daughter?  " 
enquired  the  Professor,  inquisitively. 

"She  has  a  brother  —  Randolph,"  replied 
Lawrence,  rather  shortly;  for  he  was  suddenly 
aware  that  there  was  no  particular  reason  why  he 
should  talk  about  the  Trehearnes. 

"  Of  course,  they're  relations  of  the  Miners," 
observed  the  Professor. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  11 

"  That's  the  reason  why  Miss  Trehearne  has 
them  to  stay  with  her.  Excuse  me  —  I  can't 
get  a  light  in  this  wind." 

Thereupon  Lawrence  turned  away  and  got 
under  the  lee  of  the  deck  saloon,  leaving  the 
Professor  to  himself.  Having  lighted  his  ciga 
rette,  the  artist  went  forward  and  stood  in  the 
sharp  head-breeze  that  seemed  to  blow  through 
and  through  him,  disinfecting  his  whole  being 
from  the  hot,  close  air  of  the  train  he  had  left 
half  an  hour  earlier. 

Bar  Harbour,  in  common  speech,  includes 
Frenchman's  Bay,  the  island  of  Mount  Desert, 
and  the  other  small  islands  lying  near  it, — an 
extensive  tract  of  land  and  sea.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  name  belongs  to  the  little  harbour 
between  Bar  Island  and  Mount  Desert,  together 
with  the  village  which  has  grown  to  be  the 
centre  of  civilization,  since  the  whole  place  has 
become  fashionable.  Earth,  sky,  and  water  are 
of  the  north, — hard,  bright,  and  cold.  In  artists' 
slang,  there  is  no  atmosphere.  The  dark  green 
islands,  as  one  looks  at  them,  seem  to  be  almost 
before  the  foreground.  The  picture  is  beautiful, 


12  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

and  some  people  call  it  grand ;  but  it  lacks 
depth.  There  is  something  fiercely  successful 
about  the  colour  of  it,  something  brilliantly  self- 
reliant.  It  suggests  a  certain  type  of  handsome 
woman  —  of  the  kind  that  need  neither  repent 
ance  nor  cosmetics,  and  are  perfectly  sure  of  the 
fact,  whose  virtue  is  too  cold  to  be  kind,  and 
whose  complexion  is  not  shadowed  by  passion, 
nor  softened  by  suffering,  nor  even  washed  pale 
with  tears.  Only  the  sea  is  eloquent.  The 
deep-breathing  tide  runs  forward  to  the  feet  of 
the  over-perfect,  heartless  earth,  to  linger  and 
plead  love's  story  while  he  may;  then  sighing 
sadly,  sweeps  back  unsatisfied,  baring  his  deso 
late  bosom  to  her  loveless  scorn. 

The  village,  the  chief  centre,  lies  by  the 
water's  edge,  facing  the  islands  which  enclose 
the  natural  harbour.  It  was  and  is  a  fishing 
village,  like  many  another  on  the  coast.  In  the 
midst  of  it,  vast  wooden  hotels,  four  times  as  high 
as  the  houses  nearest  to  them,  have  sprung  up 
to  lodge  fashion  in  six-storied  discomfort.  The 
effect  is  astonishing  ;  for  the  blatant  architect, 
gesticulating  in  soft  wood  and  ranting  in  paint, 


!' 
&f 

m 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  15 

as  it  were,  has  sketched  an  evil  dream  of  mediae- 
valism,  incoherent  with  itself  and  with  the  very 
commonplace  facts  of  the  village  street.  There, 
also,  in  Mr.  Bee's  shop  window,  are  plainly 
visible  the  more  or  less  startling  covers  of  the 
newest  books,  while  from  on  high,  frowns  down 
the  counterfeit  presentment  of  battlements  and 
turrets,  and  of  such  terrors  as  lent  like  interest 
when  novels  were  not,  neither  was  the  slightest 
idea  of  the  short  story  yet  conceived. 

But  behind  all  and  above  all  rise  the  wooded 
hills,  which  are  neither  modern  nor  ancient,  but 
eternal.  And  in  them  and  through  them  there 
is  secret  sweetness,  and  fragrance,  and  much 
that  is  gentle  and  lovely  —  in  the  heart  of  the 
defiantly  beautiful  earth-woman  with  her  cold 
face,  far  beyond  the  reach  of  her  tide-lover,  and 
altogether  out  of  hearing  of  his  sighs  and  com 
plaining  speeches.  There  grow  in  endless  green 
ness  the  white  pines  and  the  pitch  pines,  the 
black  spruce  and  the  white ;  there  droops  the 
feathery  larch  by  the  creeping  yew,  and  there 
gleam  the  birches,  yellow,  white,  and  grey ;  the 
sturdy  red  oak  spreads  his  arms  to  the  scarlet 


16 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


maple,  and  the  witch  hazel  rustles  softly  in  the 
mysterious  forest  breeze.  There,  buried  in  the 
wood's  bosom,  bloom  and  blossom  the  wild 


flowers,  and  redden  the  blushing  berries  in 
unseen  succession,  from  middle  June  to  late 
September  —  violets  first,  and  wild  iris,  straw 
berries  and  raspberries,  blueberries  and  black- 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  19 

berries ;  short-lived  wild  roses  and  tender  little 
blue-bells,  red  lilies,  golden-rod,  and  clematis,  in 
the  confusion  of  nature's  loveliest  order. 

All  this  Lawrence  knew,  and  remembered, 
guessing  at  what  he  could  neither  remember  nor 
know,  with  an  artist's  facility  for  filling  up  the 
unfinished  sketch  left  on  the  mind  by  one  im 
pression.  He  had  been  at  Bar  Harbour  three 
years  earlier,  and  had  wandered  amongst  the 
woods  and  pottered  along  the  shore  in  a  skiff. 
But  he  had  been  alone  then  and  had  stopped  in 
the  mediaeval  hotel,  a  rather  solitary,  thinking 
unit  amidst  the  horde  of  thoughtless  summ,er 
nomads,  designated  by  the  clerk  at  the  desk  as 
'  Number  a  hundred  and  twenty-three,'  and  a 
candidate  for  a  daily  portion  of  the  questionable 
dinner  at  the  hotel  table.  It  was  to  be  different 
this  time,  he  thought,  as  he  watched  for  the  first 
sight  of  the  pier  when  the  Sappho  rounded  Bar 
Island.  The  Trehearnes  had  not  been  at  their 
house  three  years  ago,  and  Fanny  Trehearne 
had  been  then  not  quite  sixteen,  just  groping  her 
way  from  the  schoolroom  to  the  world,  and  quite 
beneath  his  young  importance  —  even  had  she 


20  LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 

been  at  Bar  Harbour  to  wander  among  the 
woods  with  him.  Things  had  changed,  now. 
He  was  not  quite  sure  that  in  her  girlish  heart 
she  did  not  consider  him  beneath  her  notice. 
She  was  straight  and  tall  —  almost  as  tall  as  he, 
and  she  was  proud,  if  she  was  not  pretty,  and  she 
carried  her  head  as  high  as  the  handsomest. 
Moreover,  she  was  rich,  and  Louis  Lawrence 
was  at  present  phenomenally  poor,  with  a  rather 
distant  chance  of  inheriting  money.  These  were 
some  of  the  excellent  reasons  why  fate  had  made 
him  fall  in  love  with  her,  though  none  of  them 
accounted  for  the  fact  that  she  had  encouraged 
him,  and  had  suggested  to  the  Miss  Miners  that 
it  would  be  very  pleasant  to  have  him  come  and 
stay  a  fortnight  in  July. 

The  Sappho  slowed  down,  stopped,  backed, 
and  made  fast  to  the  wooden  pier,  and  as  she 
swung  round,  Lawrence  saw  Fanny  Trehearne 
standing  a  little  apart  from  the  group  of  people 
who  had  come  down  to  meet  their  own  friends  or 
to  watch  other  people  meeting  theirs.  The  young 
girl  was  evidently  looking  for  him,  and  he  took 
off  his  hat  and  waved  it  about  erratically  to 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


21 


attract  her  attention.  When  she  saw  him,  she 
nodded  with  a  faint  smile  and  moved  one  step 
nearer  to  the  gangway,  to  wait  until  he  should 
come  on  shore  with  the  crowd. 


She  had  a  quiet,  business-like  way  of  moving,, 
as  though  she  never  changed  her  position  with 
out  a  purpose.  As  Lawrence  came  along,  trying 
to  gain  on  the  stream  of  passengers  with  whom 
he  was  moving,  he  kept  his  eyes  fixed  on  her 
face,  wondering  whether  the  expression  would 


22  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

change  when  he  reached  her  and  took  her  hand. 
When  the  moment  came,  the  change  was  very 
slight. 

"I  like  you  —  you're  punctual,"  she  said. 
"Come  along!" 

:<  I've  got  some  traps,  you  know,"  he  answered, 
hesitating. 

"  Well  —  there's  the  expressman.  Give  him 
your  checks." 


CHAPTER   II. 

HEY'VE     all     gone     out     in     Mr. 
Brown's     cat-boat  —  so      I      came 
alone,"    observed     Miss     Trehearne, 
when     the     expressman     had     been 
interviewed. 

"Who  are  'all'?"  asked  Lawrence.     "Just  the 
three  Miss  Miners  ?  " 

"  Yes.     Just  the  three  Miss  Miners." 
"  I  thought  you  might  have  somebody  stopping 
with  you." 

"  No.     Nobody   but   you.     Why  do   you    say 

'stopping'  instead  of  'staying'?     I  don't  like  it." 

"  Then     I     won't     say    it     again,"     answered 

Lawrence,  meekly.     "Why  do  you  object  to  it, 

though  ? " 

"  You're    not   an    Englishman,   so   there's    no 

23 


24  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS: 

reason  why  you  shouldn't  speak  English.     Here's 
the  buckboard.     Can  you  drive?" 

"Oh  —  well  —  yes,"  replied  the  young  man, 
rather  doubtfully,  and  looking  at  the  smart  little 
turn-out. 

Fanny  Trehearne  fixed  her  cool  grey  eyes  on 
his  face  with  a  critical  expression. 

"Can  you  ride?"  she  asked,  pursuing  her 
examination. 

"  Oh,  yes  —  that  is  —  to  some  extent.  I'm  not 
exactly  a  circus-rider,  you  know  —  but  I  can  get 
on." 

"  Most  people  can  do  that.  The  important 
thing  is  not  to  come  off.  What  can  you  do  — 
anyway?  Are  you  a  good  man  in  a  boat  ?  You 
see  I've  only  met  you  in  society.  I've  never 
seen  you  do  anything." 

"  No,"  answered  Lawrence.  "  I'm  not  a  good 
man  in  a  boat,  as  you  call  it  —  except  that  I'm 
never  sea-sick.  I  don't  know  anything  about 
boats,  if  you  mean  sail-boats.  I  can  row  a  little 
—  that's  all." 

"  If  you  could  '  row,'  as  you  call  it,  you'd 
say  you  could  'pull  an  oar'  —  you  wouldn't 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  25 

talk  about  'rowing.'  Well,  get  in,  and  I'll 
drive." 

There  was  not  the  least  scorn  in  her  manner, 
at  his  inability  to  do  all  those  things  which  are 
to  be  done  at  Bar  Harbour  if  people  do  anything 
at  all.  She  had  simply  ascertained  the  fact  as 
a  measure  of  safety.  It  was  not  easy  to  guess 
whether  she  despised  him  for  his  lack  of  skill  or 
not,  but  he  was  inclined  to  think  that  she  did, 
and  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  get  up 
very  early,  and  engage  a  sailor  to  go  out  with 
him  and  teach  him  something  about  boats.  The 
resolution  was  half  unconscious,  for  he  was  really 
thinking  more  of  her  than  of  himself  just  then. 
To  tell  the  truth,  he  did  not  attach  so  much 
importance  to  any  of  the  things  she  had  men 
tioned  as  to  feel  greatly  humiliated  by  his  own 
ignorance. 

"  After  all,"  said  Miss  Trehearne,  as  Lawrence 
took  his  seat  beside  her,  "it  doesn't  matter. 
And  it's  far  better  to  be  frank,  and  say  at  once 
that  you  don't  know,  than  to  pretend  that  you 
do,  and  then  try  to  steer  and  drown  one,  or  to 
drive  and  then  break  my  neck.  Only  one  rather 


26  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

wonders  where  you  were  brought  up,  you 
know." 

"  Oh  —  I  was  brought  up  somehow,"  answered 
Lawrence,  vaguely.  "  I  don't  exactly  remember." 

"  It  doesn't  matter,"  returned  his  companion, 
in  a  reassuring  tone. 

"  No.     If  you  don't  mind,  I  don't." 

Fanny  Trehearne  laughed  a  little,  without 
looking  at  him,  for  she  was  intent  upon  what 
she  was  doing.  It  was  a  part  of  her  nature  to 
fix  her  attention  upon  whatever  she  had  in  hand 
—  a  fact  which  must  account  for  a  certain  indif 
ference  in  what  she  said.  Just  then,  too,  she 
was  crossing  the  main  street  of  the  village,  and 
there  were  other  vehicles  moving  about  hither 
and  thither.  More  than  once  she  nodded  to  an 
acquaintance,  whom  Lawrence  also  recognized. 

"  It's  much  more  civilized  than  it  was  when 
I  was  here  last,"  observed  Lawrence.  "  There 
are  lots  of  people  one  knows." 

"  Much  too  civilized,"  answered  the  young 
girl.  "  I'm  beginning  to  hate  it." 

"  I  thought  you  liked  society  —  " 

"  I  ?     What  made  you  think  so  ?  " 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  27 

This  sort  of  question  is  often  extremely  embar 
rassing.  Lawrence  looked  at  her  thoughtfully, 
and  wished  that  he  had  not  made  his  innocent 
remark,  since  he  was  called  upon  to  explain  it. 

"  I  don't  know,"  he  replied  at  last.  "  Some 
how,  I  always  associate  you  with  society,  and 
dancing,  and  that  sort  of  thing." 

"  Do  you  ?     It's  very  unjust." 

"  Well  —  it's  not  exactly  a  crime  to  like  society, 
is  it  ?  Why  are  you  so  angry  ?  " 

"  I  wish  you  wouldn't  exaggerate !  It  does 
not  follow  that  I'm  angry  because  you're  not  fair 
to  me." 

"  I  didn't  mean  to  be  unfair.  How  you  take 
one  up ! " 

"  Really,  Mr.  Lawrence  —  I  think  it's  you  who 
are  doing  that !  " 

Miss  Trehearne,  having  a  stretch  of  clear  road 
before  her,  gave  her  pair  their  heads  for  a 
moment,  and  the  light  buckboard  dashed  briskly 
up  the  gentle  ascent.  Lawrence  was  watching 
her,  though  she  did  not  look  at  him,  and  he 
thought  he  saw  the  colour  deepen  in  her  sun 
burnt  cheek,  although  her  grey  eyes  were  as 


28  LOVE  IN  IDLENESS. 

cool    as    ever.     She   was    certainly   not    pretty, 
according  to  the  probable  average  judgment  of 
younger  men.     Lawrence,  himself,  who  was  an 
artist,  wondered   what   he    saw   in   her   face    to 
attract  him,  since  he  could  not  deny  the  attrac 
tion,    and    could    not  attribute    it   altogether   to 
expression  nor  to  the  indirect  effect  of  her  char 
acter  acting  upon  his  imagination.     He  did  not 
like  to  believe,  either,  that  the  charm  was  ficti 
tious,  and  lay  in  a  certain  air  of  superior  smart 
ness,    the    result    of  good    taste    and    plenty    of 
money.     Anybody  could  wear  serge,  and  a  more 
or  less  nautical  hat  and  gloves,  just  in  the  fash 
ionable  degree  of  looseness  or  tightness,  as  the 
case   might   be.     Anybody  who   chose   had  the 
right  to  turn  up  a  veil  over  the  brim  of  the  afore 
said  hat,  and  anybody  who  did  so  stood  a  good 
chance  of  being  sunburnt.     Moreover,  as  Law 
rence  well  knew,  there  is    a  quality  of  healthy 
complexion  which  tans  to  a  golden  brown,  very 
becoming  when  the  grey  eyes  have  dark  lashes, 
but  less  so  when,  as  in  Fanny  Trehearne's  case, 
the  lashes  and  brows  are  much  lighter  than  the 
hair  — almost   white,  in  fact.     It  is  not  certain 


LOVE  IN  IDLENESS.  29 

whether  the  majority  of  human  noses  turn  up  or 
down.  There  was,  however,  no  doubt  but  that 
Fanny's  turned  up.  It  was  also  apparent  that 
she  had  decidedly  high  cheek  bones,  a  square 
jaw,  and  a  large  mouth,  with  lips  much  too  even 
and  too  little  curved  for  beauty.  After  all,  her 
best  points  were  perhaps  her  eyes,  her  golden- 
brown  complexion,  and  her  crisp,  reddish  brown 
hair,  which  twisted  itself  into  sharp  little  curls 
wherever  it  was  not  long  enough  to  be  smoothed. 
With  a  little  more  regularity  of  feature,  Fanny 
Trehearne  might  have  been  called  a  milkmaid 
beauty,  so  far  as  her  face  was  concerned.  Fortu 
nately  for  her,  her  looks  were  above  or  below 
such  faint  praise.  It  was  doubtful  whether  she 
would  be  said  to  have  charm,  but  she  had  indi 
viduality,  since  those  terms  are  in  common  use 
to  express  gifts  which  escape  definition. 

A  short  silence  followed  her  somewhat  indig 
nant  speech.  Then,  the  road  being  still  clear 
before  her,  she  turned  and  looked  at  Lawrence. 
It  was  not  a  mere  glance  of  enquiry,  it  was  cer 
tainly  not  a  tender  glance,  but  her  eyes  lingered 
with  his  for  a  moment. 


3Q  LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 

"Look  here  — are  we  going  to  quarrel?"  she 

asked. 

"  Is  there  any  reason  why  we  should  ?  "  Law 
rence  smiled. 

"  Not  if  we  agree,"  answered  the  young  girl, 
gravely,  as  she  turned  her  head  from  him  again. 

"That  means  that  we  shan't  quarrel  if  I 
agree  with  you,  I  suppose,"  observed  the  young 

* 

man. 

"Well,  why  shouldn't  you?"  asked  Fanny, 
frankly.  "  You  may  just  as  well,  you  know.  You 
will  in  the  end." 

"  By  Jove!     You  seem  pretty  sure  of  that!" 

Lawrence  laughed. 

Fanny  said  nothing  in  reply,  but  shortened  the 
reins  as  the  horses  reached  the  top  of  the  hill. 
Lawrence  looked  down  towards  the  sea.  The 
sun  was  very  low,  and  the  water  was  turning  from 
sapphire  to  amaranth,  while  the  dark  islands 
gathered  gold  into  their  green  depths. 
'  "  How  beautiful  it  is  ! "  exclaimed  the  artist, 
not  exactly  from  impulse,  though  in  real  enjoy 
ment,  while  consciously  hoping  that  his  companion 
would  say  something  pleasant. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  33 

"  Of  course  it's  beautiful,"  she  answered. 
"  That's  why  I  come  here." 

"  I  should  put  it  in  the  opposite  way,"  said 
Lawrence. 

"How?" 

"Why  —  it's  beautiful  because  you  come 
here." 

"Oh  —  that's  ingenious!  You  think  it's  my 
mission  to  beautify  landscapes." 

"  I  thought  that  if  I  said  something  pretty  in 
the  way  of  a  compliment,  we  shouldn't  go  on 
quarrelling." 

"  Oh  !  Were  we  quarrelling  ?  I  hadn't  no 
ticed  it." 

"You  said- something  about  it  a  moment  ago," 
observed  Lawrence,  mildly. 

"  Did  I  ?  You're  an  awfully  literal  person. 
By  the  bye,  you  know  all  the  Miss  Miners, 
don't  you  ?  I've  forgotten." 

"  I  believe  I  do.  There's  Miss  Miner  the 
elder — to  begin  with  —  " 

"The  oldest  —  since  there  are  three,"  said 
Fanny,  correcting  him.  "  Yes  —  she's  the  one 
with  the  hair  —  and  teeth." 


34  LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 

"Yes,  and  Miss  Elizabeth  — isn't  that  her 
name  ?  The  plainest  —  " 

"And  the  nicest.  And  Augusta  —  she's  the 
third.  Paints  wild  flowers  and  plays  the  piano. 
She's  about  my  age,  I  believe." 

"  Your  age  !     Why,  she  must  be  over  thirty  !  " 

"  No.  She's  nineteen,  still.  She's  got  an 
anchor  out  to  windward  —  against  the  storm  of 
time,  you  know.  She  swings  a  little  with  the 
tide,  though." 

"  I  don't  understand,"  said  Lawrence,  to  whom 
nautical  language  was  incomprehensible. 

"  Never  mind.  I  only  mean  that  she  does 
not  want  to  grow  old.  It's  always  funny  to  see 
a  person  of  nineteen  who's  really  over  thirty." 

Lawrence  laughed  a  little. 

"  You're  fond  of  them  all,  aren't  you  ? "  he 
asked,  presently. 

"  Of  course  !  They're  my  relation  —  how  could 
I  help  being  fond  of  them  ?  " 

"  Oh  —  yes,"  answered  Lawrence,  vaguely. 
"  But  they  really  are  very  nice  —  people." 

"  Why  do  you  hesitate  ?  " 

"I    don't   know.      I    couldn't    say    'very    nice 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  35 

ladies,'  could  I  ?  And  I  shouldn't  exactly  say 
'  very  nice  women  '  —  and  '  very  nice  people  ' 
sounds  queer,  somehow,  doesn't  it  ?  " 

"  And  you  wouldn't  say  '  very  nice  old 
maids  '  —  " 

"  Certainly  not !  " 

"  No.  It  wouldn't  be  civil  to  me,  nor  kind 
to  them.  The  truth  is  generally  unkind  and 
usually  rude.  Besides,  they  love  you." 

"  Me  ? " 

"Yes.  They  rave  about  you,  and  your  looks, 
and  your  manners,  and  your  conversation,  and 
your  talents." 

"  The  dickens  !  I'm  flattered !  But  it's  always 
the  wrong  people  who  like  one." 

"  Why  the  wrong  people  ? "  asked  Fanny 
Trehearne,  not  looking  at  him. 

"  Because  all  the  liking  in  the  world  from  peo 
ple  one  doesn't  care  for  can't  make  up  for  the 
not  liking  of  the  one  person  one  does  care  for." 

« Oh  —  in  that  way.  It's  rash  to  care  for 
only  one  person.  It's  putting  all  one's  eggs 
into  one  basket." 

"  What  an  extraordinary  sentiment !  " 


36  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"  I  didn't  mean  it  for  sentiment." 

"No  —  I  should  think  not !  Quite  the  con 
trary,  I  should  say." 

"  Quite,"  affirmed  Fanny,  gravely. 

"  Quite  ? " 

"  Yes  —  almost  quite." 

"Oh  — 'almost'  quite?" 

"  It's  the  same  thing." 

"  Not  to  me." 

The  young  girl  would  not  turn  her  atten 
tion  from  her  horses,  though  in  Lawrence's 
inexpert  opinion  she  could  have  done  so 
with  perfect  safety  just  then,  and  without  im 
propriety.  The  most  natural  and  innocent  curi 
osity  should  have  prompted  her  to  look  into  his 
eyes  for  a  moment,  if  only  to  see  whether  he 
were  in  earnest  or  not.  He  would  certainly  not 
have  thought  her  a  flirt  if  she  had  glanced 
kindly  at  him.  But  she  looked  resolutely  at 
the  horses'  heads. 

"  Here  we  are !  "  she  exclaimed  suddenly. 

With  a  sharp  turn  to  the  left  the  buckboard 
swept  through  the  open  gate,  the  off  horse  break 
ing  into  a  canter  which  Fanny  instantly  checked. 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  37 

The  near  wheels  passed  within  a  foot  of  the 
gatepost. 

"  Wasn't  that  rather  close  ?  "  asked  Lawrence. 

"Why?  There  was  lots  of  room.  Are  you 
nervous  ? " 

"  I  suppose  I  am,  since  you  say  so." 

"  I  didn't  say  so.     I  asked." 

"  And  I  answered,"  said  Lawrence,  tartly. 

"  How  sensitive  you  are !  You  act  as  though 
I  had  called  you  a  coward." 

"  I  thought  you  meant  to.  It  sounded  rather 
like  it." 

"You  have  no  right  to  think  that  I  mean 
things  which  I  haven't  said,"  answered  the  young 
girl. 

"  Oh,  very  well.  I  apologize  for  thinking  that 
what  you  said  meant  anything." 

"Don't  lose  your  temper  —  don't  be  a  spoilt 
baby ! " 

Lawrence  said  nothing,  and  they  reached  the 
house  in  silence.  Fanny  was  not  mistaken  in 
calling  him  sensitive,  though  he  was  by  no  means 
so  nervous,  perhaps,  as  she  seemed  ready  to  be 
lieve.  She  had  a  harsh  way  of  saying  things 


38  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

which,  spoken  with  a  smile,  could  not  have  given 
offence,  and  Lawrence  was  apt  to  attach  real 
importance  to  her  careless  speeches.  He  felt 
himself  out  of  his  element  from  the  first,  in  a 
place  where  he  might  be  expected  to  do  things 
in  which  he  could  not  but  show  an  awkward  in 
experience,  and  he  was  ready  to  resent  anything 
like  the  suggestion  that  timidity  was  at  the  root 
of  his  ignorance,  or  was  even  its  natural  result. 

His  face  was  unnecessarily  grave  as  he  held 
out  his  hand  to  help  Fanny  down  from  the  buck- 
board,  and  she  neither  touched  it  nor  looked  at 
him  as  she  sprang  to  the  ground. 

"  Go  into  the  library,  and  we'll  have  tea,"  she 
said,  without  turning  her  head,  as  she  entered  the 
house  before  him.  "  I'll  be  down  in  a  moment." 

She  pointed  carelessly  to  the  open  door  and 
went  through  the  hall  in  the  direction  of  the 
staircase.  Lawrence  entered  the  room  alone. 

The  house  was  very  large ;  for  the  Trehearnes 
were  rich  people,  and  liked  to  have  their  friends 
with  them  in  considerable  numbers.  Moreover, 
they  had  bought  land  in  Bar  Harbour  in  days 
when  it  had  been  cheap,  and  had  built  their 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  39 

dwelling  commodiously,  in  the  midst  of  a  big  lot 
which  ran  down  from  the  road  to  the  sea.  With 
the  instinct  of  a  man  who  has  been  obliged  to 
live  in  New  York,  squeezed  in,  as  it  were,  between 
tall  houses  on  each  side,  Mr.  Trehearne  had  given 
himself  the  luxury,  in  Bar  Harbour,  of  a  house  as 
wide  and  as  deep  as  he  could  possibly  desire,  and 
only  two  stories  high. 

The  library  was  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
house,  opening  on  the  south  side  upon  a  deep 
verandah  from  which  wooden  steps  descended  to 
the  shrubbery,  and  having  windows  to  the  west, 
which  overlooked  the  broad  lawn.  The  latter 
was  enclosed  by  tall  trees.  The  winding  avenue 
led  in  a  northerly  direction  to  the  main  road. 
At  the  east  end  of  the  house,  the  offices  ran  out 
towards  the  boundary  of  the  Trehearnes'  land, 
and  beyond  them,  among  the  trees,  there  was  a 
small  yard  enclosed  by  a  lattice  of  wood  eight  or 
ten  feet  high. 

The  library  was  the  principal  room  on  the 
ground  floor,  and  was  really  larger  than  the 
drawing-room  which  followed  it  along  the  line 
of  the  south  verandah,  though  it  seemed  smaller 


40  LOVE  IN  IDLENESS. 

from  being  more  crowded  with  furniture.  As 
generally  happens  in  the  country,  it  had  become 
a  sort  of  common  room  in  which  everybody 
preferred  to  sit.  The  drawing-room  had  been 
almost  abandoned  of  late,  the  three  Miss  Miners 
being  sociable  beings,  unaccustomed  to  magnifi 
cence  in  their  own  homes,  and  averse  to  being 

o 

alone  with  it  anywhere.  They  felt  that  the 
drawing-room  was  too  fine  for  them,  and  by  tacit 
consent  they  chose  the  library  for  their  general 
trysting-place  and  tea  camp  when  they  were 
indoors.  Mrs.  Trehearne,  who  was,  perhaps,  a 
little  too  fond  of  splendour,  would  have  smiled 
at  the  idea  as  she  thought  of  her  gorgeously 
brocaded  reception  rooms  in  New  York ;  but 
Fanny  had  simple  tastes,  like  her  father,  and 
agreed  with  her  old-maid  cousins  in  preferring 
the  plain,  dark  woodwork,  the  comfortable  leath 
ern  chairs,  and  the  backs  of  the  books,  to  the 
dreary  wilderness  of  expensive  rugs  and  unneces 
sary  gilding  which  lay  beyond.  For  the  sake  of 
coolness,  the  doors  were  usually  opened  between 
the  rooms. 


CHAPTER    III. 

HE  weather  was  warm.  By  contrast 
with  the  cool  air  of  the  bay  he  had 
lately  crossed,  it  seemed  hot  to  Law 
rence  when  he  entered  the  library. 
Barely  glancing  at  the  room,  he  went  straight 
to  one  of  the  doors  which  opened  upon  the 
verandah,  and  going  out,  sat  down  discontentedly 
in  a  big  cushioned  straw  chair.  It  was  very 
warm,  and  it  seemed  suddenly  very  still.  In  the 
distance  he  could  hear  the  wheels  of  the  buck- 
board  in  the  avenue,  as  the  groom  took  it  round 
to  the  stables,  and  out  of  the  close  shrubbery  he 
caught  the  sharp,  dry  sound  of  footsteps  rapidly 
retreating  along  a  concealed  cinder  path.  The 
air  scarcely  stirred  the  creeper  which  climbed  up 
one  of  the  pillars  of  the  verandah  and  festooned 

41 


42  LOVE  IN  IDLENESS. 

its  way,  curtain-like,  in  both  directions  to  the 
opposite  ends.  On  his  right  he  could  see  the 
broad,  sloping  lawn,  all  shadowed  now  by  the  tall 
trees  beyond.  Without  looking  directly  at  it,  he 
felt  that  the  vivid  green  of  the  grass  was  softened 
and  that  there  must  be  gold  in  the  tops  of  the 
trees.  The  sensation  was  restful,  but  his  eyes 
stared  vacantly  at  the  deep  shrubbery  which 
began  a.t  the  foot  of  the  verandah  steps  and 
stretched  away  under  the  spruces  at  his  left. 

He  was  exceedingly  discontented,  though  he 
had  just  arrived,  or,  perhaps,  for  that  very  reason 
among  many  other  minor  ones.  He  had  never 
had  any  cause  to  expect  from  Fanny  Trehearne 
anything  in  the  way  of  sentiment,  but  he  was 
none  the  less  persuaded  that  he  had  a  moral 
right  to  look  for  something  more  than  chaff  and 
good-natured  hospitality,  spiced  with  such  vigor 
ous  reproof  as  "  don't  be  a  spoilt  baby." 

The  words  rankled.  He  was  asking  himself 
just  then  whether  he  was  a  '  spoilt  baby '  or 
not.  It  was  of  great  importance  to  him  to  know 
the  truth.  If  he  was  a  spoilt  baby,  of  course 
Miss  Trehearne  had  a  right  to  say  so  if  she  liked, 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  45 

though  the  expression  was  not  complimentary. 
But  if  not,  she  was  monstrously  unjust.  He  did 
not  deny  that  the  accusation  might  be  well 
founded  ;  for  he  was  modest  as  well  as  sensitive, 
and  did  not  think  very  highly  of  himself  at 
present,  though  he  hoped  great  things  for  the 
future,  and  believed  that  he  was  to  be  a  famous 
artist. 

The  more  he  told  himself  that  he  had  no  right 
to  expect  anything  of  Fanny,  the  more  thor 
oughly  convinced  he  became  that  his  right 
existed,  and  that  she  was  trampling  upon  it. 
She  had  ordered  him  into  the  library  in  a  very 
peremptory  and  high-and-mighty  fashion  to  wait 
for  her,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  he  had 
travelled  twenty-four  hours,  and  had  acquired 
the  prerogative  right  of  the  traveller  to  soap  'and 
water  before  all  else.  No  doubt  he  was  quite 
presentable,  since  the  conditions  of  modern  rail 
ways  had  made  it  possible  to  come  in  clean,  or 
comparatively  so,  from  a  longish  run.  But  the 
ancient  traditions  ought  not  to  be  swept  out  of 
the  way,  Louis  thought,  and  the  right  of  scrub 
bing  subsisted  still.  She  might  at  least  have 


46  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

given  him  a  hint  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  his 
room,  since  she  had  left  him  to  himself  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour.  She  had  not  been  gone 
four  minutes  yet,  but  Louis  made  it  fifteen,  and 
fifteen  it  was  to  be,  in  his  estimation. 

Presently  he  heard  a  man's  footstep  in  the 
library  behind  him,  and  the  subdued  tinkling 
of  a  superior  tea-service,  of  which  the  sound 
differs  from  the  clatter  of  the  hotel  tea-tray,  as 
the  voice,  say,  of  Fanny  Trehearne  differed  in 
refinement  from  that  of  an  Irish  cook.  But 
it  irritated  Lawrence,  nevertheless,  and  he  did 
not  look  round.  He  felt  that  when  Fanny  came 
down  again,  he  intended  to  refuse  tea  altogether 
—  presumably,  by  way  of  proving  that  he  was 
not  a  spoilt  baby  after  all.  He  crossed  one  leg 
over  the  other  impatiently,  and  hesitated  as  to 
whether,  if  he  lit  a  cigarette,  it  would  seem  rude 
to  be  smoking  when  Fanny  should  come,  even 
though  he  was  really  in  the  open  air  on  the 
verandah.  But  in  this,  his  manners  had  the 
better  of  his  impatience,  and  after  touching  his 
cigarette  case  in  his  pocket,  in  a  longing  way,  he 
did  not  take  it  out. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  47 

At  last  he  heard  Fanny  enter  the  room. 
There  was  no  mistaking  her  tread,  for  he  had 
noticed  that  she  wore  tennis  shoes.  He  knew 
that  she  could  not  see  him  where  he  sat,  and  he 
turned  his  head  towards  the  door  expectantly. 
Again  he  heard  the  tinkle  of  the  tea-things. 
Then  there  was  silence.  Tu~n  the  urn  began 
to  hiss  and  sing  softly,  and  there  was  another 
sort  of  tinkling.  It  was  clear  that  Fanny  had 
sat  do\v;i.  She  could  have  no  idea  that  he  was 
sitting  outside,  as  he  knew,  but  he  thought  she 
might  have  taken  the  trouble  to  look  for  him. 
He  listened  intently  for  the  sound  of  her  step 
again,  but  it  did  not  come,  and,  oddly  enough, 
his  heart  began  to  beat  more  quickly.  But  he 
did  not  move.  He  felt  a  ridiculous  determina 
tion  to  wait  until  she  began  to  be  impatient  and 
to  move  about  and  look  for  him.  He  could  not 
have  told  whether  it  were  timidity,  or  nervous 
ness,  or  ill-temper  which  kept  him  nailed  to  his 
chair,  and  just  then  he  would  have  scorned  the 
idea  that  it  could  be  love  in  any  shape,  though 
his  heart  was  beating  so  fast. 

Suddenly   his    straining   ear   caught   the   soft 


48  LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 

rustle  made  by  the  pages  of  a  book,  turned 
deliberately  and  smoothed  afterwards.  She  was 
calmly  reading,  indifferent  to  his  coming  or 
staying  away — reading  while  the  tea  was  draw 
ing.  How  stolid  she  was,  he  thought.  She  was 
certainly  not-conscious  of  the  action  of  her  heart 
as  she  sat  there.  For  a  few  moments  longer  he 
did  not  move.  Then  he  felt  he  wished  to  see 
her,  to  see  how  she  was  sitting,  and  how  really 
indifferent  ^e-^'as.  But  if  he  made  a  sound,  she 
J&Tlulct  Took  up  and  lay  down  her  book  even  before 
he  entered  the  room.  The  verandah  had  a  floor 
of  painted  boards,  —  which  are  more  noisy  than 
unpainted  ones,  for  some  occult  reason,  —  and  he 
could  not  stir  a  step  without  being  heard.  Besides, 
his  straw  easy-chair  would  creak  when  he  rose. 

All  at  once  he  felt  how  very  foolish  he  was, 
and  he  got  up  noisily,  an  angry  blush  on  his 
young  face.  He  reached  the  entrance  in  two 
>strides  and  stood  in  the  open  doorway,  with  his 
back  to  the  light.  As  he  had  guessed,  Fanny 
was  reading. 

"  Oh ! "  he  ejaculated  with  affected  surprise, 
as  he  looked  at  her. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  49 

She  did  not  raise  her  eyes  nor  start,  being 
evidently  intent  upon  finishing  the  sentence  she 
had  begun. 

"  I  thought  you  were  never  coming,"  she  said, 
absently. 

He  was  more  hurt  than  ever  by  her  indiffer 
ence,  and  sat  down  at  a  little  distance,  without 
moving  the  light  chair  he  had  chosen.  Fanny 
reached  the  foot  of  the  page,  put  a  letter  she 
held  into  the  place,  closed  the  book  upon  it,  and 
then  at  last  looked  up. 

"  Do  you  like  your  tea  strong  or  weak?"  she 
enquired  in  a  business-like  tone. 

"Just  as  it  comes — I  don't  care,"  answered 
Lawrence,  gloomily. 

"  Then  I'll  give  it  to  you  now.  I  like  mine 
strong." 

"  It's  bad  for  the  nerves." 

"  I  haven't  any  nerves,"  said  Fanny  Trehearne, 
with  conviction. 

"  That's  curious,"  observed  Lawrence,  with 
fine  sarcasm. 

Fanny  looked  at  him  without  smiling,  since 
there  was  nothing  to  smile  at,  and  then  poured 


50  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

out  his  tea.     He  took  it  in  silence,  but  helped 
himself  to  more  sugar,  with  a  reproachful  air. 

"  Oh  — you  like  it  sweet,  do  you?  "  said  Fanny, 
interrogatively. 

"  Peculiarity  of  spoilt  babies,"  answered  Law 
rence,  in  bitter  tones. 
"  Yes,  I  see  it  is." 

And  with  this  crushing  retort  Fanny  Tre- 
hearne  relapsed  into  silence.  Lawrence  began 
to  drink  his  tea,  burnt  his  mouth  with  courageous 
indifference,  stirred  up  the  sugar  gravely,  and 
said  nothing. 

"  I  wonder  when  they'll  get  home,"  said  Fanny, 
after  a  long  interval. 

"Are  you  anxious  about  them?"  enquired  the 
young  man,  with  affected  politeness. 

"  Anxious  ?     No !  I  was  only  wondering." 
"I'm    not   very  amusing,    I   know,"  said  Law 
rence,  grimly. 
"No,  you're  not." 

The  blood  rushed  to  his  face  again  with  his 
sudden  irritation,  and  he  drank  more  hot  tea  to 
keep  himself  in  countenance.  At  that  moment 
he  sincerely  wished  that  he  had  not  come  to  Bar 
Harbour  at  all. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  51 

"You're  not  particularly  encouraging,  Miss 
Trehearne,"  he  said  presently.  "I'm  sure,  I'm 
doing  my  best  to  be  agreeable." 

"And  you  think  that  I'm  doing  my  best  to  be 
disagreeable?  I'm  not,  you  know.  It's  your 
imagination." 

"  I  don't  know,"  answered  Lawrence,  his  face 
unbending  a  little.  "You  began  by  telling  me 
that  you  despised  me  because  I'm  such  a  duffer 
at  out-of-door  things,  then  you  told  me  I  was  a 
spoilt  baby,  and  now  you're  proving  to  me  that 
I'm  a  bore." 

"Duffer,  baby,  and  bore!"  Fanny  laughed. 
"What  an  appalling  combination!  " 

"  It  is,  indeed.     But  that's  what  you  said  — " 

"  Oh,  nonsense !  I  wasn't  as  rude  as  that,  was 
I  ?  But  I  never  said  anything  of  the  sort,  you 
know." 

"You    really    did    say    that    I    was    a   spoilt 

baby  —  " 

"No.  I  told  you  not  to  be,  by  way  of  a  gen 
eral  warning  —  " 

"Well,  it's  the  same  thing  —  " 

"Is  it?     If   I   tell  you  not  to  go   out  of   the 


52  LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 

room,  for  instance,  and  if  you  sit  still  — is  it  the 
same   thing    as    though    you    got   up    and   went 

out?" 

«  Why  no  —  of  course  not !     How  absurd ! " 

"  Well,  the  other  is  absurd  too." 

"  I'll  never  say  again  that  women  aren't  logi 
cal,"  answered  Lawrence,  smiling  in  spite  of 

himself. 

«  NO —  don't.     Have  some  more  tea." 
"Thanks — I've  not  finished.     It's  too  hot  to 

drink." 

Thereupon,  his  good  temper  returning,  he 
desisted  from  self-torture  by  scalding,  and  set 
the  cup  down.  Fanny  watched  him,  but  turned 
her  eyes  away  as  he  looked  up  and  she  met  his 

glance. 

"I'm  so'  glad  you've  come,"  she  said  quietly. 

"  I've  looked  forward  to  it." 

Perhaps  she  was  a  little  the  more  ready  to  say 
so,  because  she  was  inwardly  conscious  of  having 
rather  wilfully  teased  him,  but  she  meant  what 
she  said.  Lawrence  felt  his  heart  beating  again 
in  a  moment.  Resting  his  elbow  on  his  knees, 
he  clasped  his  hands  and  looked  down  at  the 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  53 

pattern  of  the  rug  under  his  feet.  She  did  not 
realize  how  easily  she  could  move  him,  not  being 
by  any  means  a  flirt. 

"  It's  nothing  to  the  way  I've  looked  forward 
to  it,"  he  answered. 

She  was  silent,  but  he  did  not  raise  his  head. 
He  could  see  her  face  in  the  carpet. 

"  You  know  that,  don't  you  ?  "  he  asked,  in  a 
low  voice,  after  a  few  moments. 

Unfortunately  for  his  information  on  the  sub 
ject,  the  butler  appeared  just  then,  announcing 
a  visitor. 

"  Mr.  Brinsley." 

It  was  clear  that  the  manservant  had  no  option 
in  the  matter  of  admitting  the  newcomer,  who 
was  in  the  room  almost  before  his  name  was  pro 
nounced. 

"  How  do  you  do,  Miss  Trehearne  ?  "  he  began 
as  he  came  swiftly  forward.  "  I'm  tremendously 
glad  to  find  you  at  home.  You're  generally  out 
at  this  hour." 

"  Is  that  why  you  chose  it  ? "  asked  Fanny, 
with  a  little  laugh  and  holding  out  her  hand. 
"  Do  you  know  Mr.  Lawrence  ?  "  she  continued, 


54  LOVE  IN  IDLENESS. 

by  way  of  introducing  the  two  men.    "  Mr.  Brins- 
ley,"  she  added,  for  Louis's  benefit. 

Lawrence  had  risen,  and  he  shook  hands  with 
a  good  grace.  But  he  hated  Mr.  Brinsley  at 
once,  both  because  the  latter  had  come  inop 
portunely  and  because  his  own  sensitive  nature 
was  instantly  and  strongly  repelled  by  the 
man. 

There  was  no  mistaking  Mr.  Brinsley 's  Cana 
dian  accent,  though  he  seemed  anxious  to  make 
it  as  English  as  possible,  and  Lawrence  disliked 
Canadians ;  but  that  fact  alone  could  not  have 
produced  the  strongly  disagreeable  sensation  of 
which  the  younger  man  was  at  once  conscious, 
and  he  looked  at  the  visitor  in  something  like 
surprise  at  the  strength  of  his  instantaneous 
aversion.  Brinsley,  though  dressed  quietly,  and 
with  irreproachable  correctness,  was  a  showy 
man,  of  medium  height,  but  magnificently  made. 
His  wrists  were  slender,  nervous,  and  sinewy,  his 
ankles  —  displayed  to  advantage  by  his  low  rus 
set  shoes  —  were  beautifully  modelled,  whereas 
his  shoulders  were  almost  abnormally  broad,  and 
the  cords  and  veins  moved  visibly  in  his  athletic 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  55 

neck  when  he  spoke  or  moved.  The  powerful 
muscles  were  apparent  under  his  thin  grey 
clothes,  and  Lawrence  had  noticed  the  perfect 
grace  and  strength  of  his  quick  step  when  he  had 
entered.  In  face  he  was  very  dark,  and  his  wiry, 
short  black  hair  had  rusty  reflexions.  His  skin 
was  tanned  to  a  deep  brown,  and  mottled,  espe 
cially  about  the  eyes,  with  deep  shadows,  in  which 
were  freckles  even  darker  than  the  shadows  them 
selves.  His  beard  evidently  grew  as  high  as  his 
cheek  bones,  for  the  line  from  which  it  was 
shaved  was  cleanly  drawn  and  marked  by  the 
dark  fringe  remaining  above.  His  mustache  was 
black  and  heavy,  and  he  wore  very  small,  closely 
cropped  whiskers  like  those  affected  by  naval 
officers.  He  had  one  of  those  arrogant,  vain, 
astute  noses  which  seem  to  point  at  whatever  the 
small  and  beady  black  eyes  judge  to  be  worth 
having. 

At  a  glance,  Lawrence  saw  that  Brinsley  was 
an  athlete,  and  he  guessed  instantly  that  the  man 
must  be  good  at  all  those  things  which  Louis 
himself  was  unable  to  do.  He  was  a  man  to 
ride,  drive,  run,  pull  an  oar,  and  beat  everybody 


56  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

at  tennis.  But  neither  was  that  the  reason  why 
Lawrence  hated  him  from  the  first.  It  had  been 
the  touch  of  his  hard  dry  hand,  perhaps,  or  the 
flash  of  the  light  in  his  small  black  eyes,  or  his 
self-satisfied  and  all-conquering  expression.  It 
was  not  easy  to  say.  Possibly,  too,  Louis 
thought  that  Brinsley  was  his  rival,  and  resented 
the  fact  that  Fanny  had  betrayed  no  annoyance 
at  the  interruption. 

But  Brinsley  barely  vouchsafed  Lawrence  a 
glance,  as  the  latter  thought,  and  immediately 
sat  himself  down  much  nearer  to  Miss  Tre- 
hearne  -and  the  tea-table  than  Louis,  in  his 
previous  rage,  had  thought  fit  to  do. 

"  Well,  Miss  Trehearne,"  said  Brinsley,  "  how 
is  Tim  ?  Isn't  he  all  right  yet  ?  " 

"  He's  better,"  answered  Fanny.  "  He  had  a 
bad  time  of  it,  but  you  can't  kill  a  wire-haired 
terrier,  you  know.  He  wouldn't  take  the  phos 
phate.  I  believe  it  was  sweetened,  and  he  hates 


sugar." 


"  So  do  I.  Please  don't  give  me  any,"  he 
added  quickly,  watching  her  as  she  prepared  a 
cup  of  tea  for  him. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


57 


Lawrence's  resentment  began  to  grow  again. 
It  was  doubtless  because  Mr.  Brinsley  never 
took  sugar  that  Fanny  had  seemed  scornfully 
surprised  at  the  artist's  weakness  for  it. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

IOUIS  LAWRENCE  was  exceed 
ingly  uncomfortable  during  the  next 
few  minutes,  and  to  add  to  his  misery, 
he  was  quite  conscious  that  he  had 
nothing  to  complain  of.  It  was  natural  that 
he  should  not  know  the  people  in  Bar  Harbour, 
Excepting  those  whom  he  had  known  before, 
and  that  he  should  be  in  complete  ignorance 
of  all  projected  gaieties.  Of  course  no  one 
had  suggested  to  the  Reveres,  for  instance,  to 
ask  him  to  their  dance;  because  they  were 
Boston  people,  they  did  not  know  him,  and 
nobody  was  aware  that  he  was  within  reach. 
Besides,  Louis  Lawrence  was  a  very  insignifi 
cant  personage,  though  he  was  well-connected, 

58 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  59 

well-bred,  and  not  ill-looking.  He  was  just 
now  a  mere  struggling  artist,  with  no  money 
except  in  the  questionable  future,  and  if  he 
had  talent,  it  was  problematical,  since  he 
had  not  distinguished  himself  in  any  way  as 
yet. 

He   remembered   all    these    things,   but    they 
did    not  console    him.      In    order    not    to   seem 
rude,  he  made  vague  remarks  from  time  to  time, 
when    something    occurred    to    him    to  say,   but 
he  inwardly  wished  Brinsley  a  speedy  departure 
and  a  fearful  end.     Fanny  seemed  amused  and 
interested   by    the  man's    conversation,    and  she 
herself  talked  fluently.     Now  and  then   Brinsley 
looked    at     Lawrence,    really  surprised    by   the 
latter's  ignorance    of   everything    in    the    nature 
of  sport,  and  possibly  with  a  passing  contempt 
which  Lawrence  noticed    and   proceeded   to  ex 
aggerate  in  importance.     The  artist  was  on  the 
point  of  asking  Fanny's  permission    to    go    and 
find  the  room  allotted    to    him,    when    a   sound 
of  women's  voices,  high  and  low,  came  through 
the  open  windows.     There  was  an  audible  little 
confusion  in  the  hall,  and  the  three  Miss  Miners 


60  LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 

entered  the  library  one  after  the  other  in  quick 
succession. 

"Oh,  Mr.  Brinsley!"  exclaimed  Miss  Cor 
delia,  the  eldest,  coming  forward  with  a  pale 
smile  which  showed  many  of  her  very  beautiful 
teeth. 

"  Mr.  Brinsley  is  here,"  said  Miss  Elizabeth,  the 
ugly  one,  in  an  undertone  to  Miss  Augusta,  who 
possessed  the  accomplishments. 

Then  they  also  advanced  and  shook  hands 
with  much  cordiality,  the  remains  of  which  were 
promptly  offered  to  Lawrence.  Mr.  Brinsley 
did  not  seem  in  the  least  overpowered  by  the 
sudden  entrance  of  the  three  old  maids.  He 
smiled,  moved  up  several  chairs  to  the  tea-table, 
and  laughed  agreeably  over  each  chair,  though 
Lawrence  could  not  see  that  there  was  anything 
to  laugh  at.  Brinsley 's  vitality  was  tremendous, 
and  his  manners  were  certainly  very  good,  so 
that  he  was  a  useful  person  in  a  drawing-room. 
His  assurance,  if  put  to  the  test,  would  have  been 
found  equal  to  most  emergencies.  But  on  the 
present  occasion  he  had  no  need  of  it.  It  was 
evidently  his  mission  to  be  worshipped  by  the 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  63 

three  Miss  Miners  and  to  be  liked  by  Miss  Tre- 
hearne,  who  did  not  like  everybody. 

"  I'm  sure  we've  missed  the  best  part  of  your 
visit,"  said  Miss  Cordelia. 

"  Oh,  no,"  answered  Brinsley,  promptly.  "  I've 
only  just  come  —  at  least  it  seems  so  to  me," 
he  added,  smiling  at  Fanny  across  the  tea- 
table. 

Lawrence  thought  he  must  have  been  in  the 
room  more  than  half  an  hour,  but  the  sisters 
were  all  delighted  by  the  news  that  their  idol 
meant  to  stay  some  time  longer. 

"  How  nice  it  would  be  if  everybody  made  such 
speeches  !  "  sighed  Miss  Augusta  to  Lawrence, 
who  was  next  to  her.  "  Such  a  charming  way  of 
making  Fanny  feel  that  she  talks  well !  I'm  sure 
he's  really  been  here  some  time." 

"  He  has,"  answered  Lawrence,  absently  and 
without  lowering  his  voice  enough,  for  Brinsley 
immediately  glanced  at  him. 

"  We've  been  having  such  a  pleasant  talk  about 
the  dogs  and  horses,"  said  the  Canadian,  willing 
to  be  disagreeable  to  the  one  other  man  present. 
"  I'm  afraid  we've  bored  Mr.  Lawrence  to  death, 


64  LOVE  IN  IDLENESS. 

Miss  Trehearne  —  he  doesn't  seem  to  care  for 
those  things  as  much  as  we  do." 

"  I  don't  know  anything  about  them,"  answered 
the  young  man. 

"  I'm  afraid  you'll  bore  yourself  in  Bar  Harbour, 
then,"  observed  Mr.  Brinsley.  "  What  can  you 
find  to  do  all  day  long? " 

"  Nothing.     I'm  an  artist." 

"  Ah  ?  That's  very  nice  —  you'll  be  able  to  go 
out  sketching  with  Miss  Augusta  —  long  ex 
cursions,  don't  you  know  ?  All  day  —  " 

"  Oh,  I  shouldn't  dare  to  suggest  such  a  thing !  " 
cried  Miss  Augusta. 

"  I'm  sure  I  should  be  very  happy,  if  you'd  like 
to  go,"  said  Lawrence,  politely  facing  the  dread 
ful  possibility  of  a  day  with  her  in  the  woods, 
while  Brinsley  would  in  all  likelihood  be  riding 
with  Fanny  or  taking  her  out  in  a  catboat. 

But  Miss  Augusta  paid  little  attention  to  him, 
so  long  as  Brinsley  was  talking,  which  was  most 
of  the  time.  The  man  did  not  say  anything 
worth  repeating,  but  Lawrence  knew  that  he  was 
far  from  stupid  in  spite  of  his  empty  talk.  At 
last  Lawrence  merely  looked  on,  controlling  his 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  65 

nervousness  as  well  as  he  could  and  idly  watching 
the  faces  of  the  party.  Brinsley  talked  on  and 
on,  twisting  to  pieces  the  stem  of  a  flower  which 
he  had  worn  in  his  coat,  but  which  had  unaccount 
ably  broken  off. 

Lawrence  wondered  whether  Fanny,  too,  could 
be  under  the  charm,  and  he  watched  her  with 
some  anxiety.  There  was  something  oddly  in 
scrutable  in  the  young  girl's  face  and  in  her  quiet 
eyes  that  did  not  often  smile,  even  when  she 
laughed.  He  had  the  strong  impression,  and  he 
had  felt  it  before,  that  she  was  very  well  able  to 
conceal  her  real  thoughts  and  intentions  behind 
a  mask  of  genuine  frankness  and  straightforward 
ness.  There  are  certain  men  and  women  who 
possess  that  gift.  Without  ever  saying  a  word 
which  even  faintly  suggests  prevarication,  they 
have  a  masterly  reticence  about  what  they  do  not 
wish  to  have  known,  whereby  their  acquaintances 
are  sometimes  more  completely  deceived  than 
they  could  be  by  the  most  ingenious  falsehood. 
Lawrence  was  quite  unable  to  judge  from  Fanny's 
face  whether  she  liked  Brinsley  or  not,  but  he 
was  wounded  by  a  certain  deference,  if  that  word 


66  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

be  not  too  strong,  which  she  showed  for  the  man's 
opinion,  and  which  contrasted  slightly  with  the 
dictatorial  superiority  which  she  assumed  towards 
Lawrence  himself.  He  consoled  himself  as  well 
as  he  could  with  the  reflexion  that  he  really  knew 
nothing  about  dogs,  horses,  or  boats,  and  that 
Brinsley  was  certainly  his  master  in  all  such 
knowledge. 

As  an  artist,  he  could  not  but  admire  the  per 
fect  proportions  of  the  visitor,  the  strength  of 
him,  and  the  satisfactory  equilibrium  of  forces 
which  showed  itself  in  his  whole  physical  being; 
but  as  a  gentleman  he  was  repelled  by  something 
not  easily  defined,  and  as  a  lover  he  suspected  a 
rival.  He  had  not  much  right,  indeed,  to  believe 
that  Fanny  Trehearne  cared  especially  for  him, 
any  more  than  to  predicate  that  she  was  in  love 
with  Brinsley.  But,  being  in  love  himself,  he 
very  naturally  arrogated  to  himself  such  a  right 
without  the  slightest  hesitation,  and  he  boldly 
asserted  in  his  heart  that  Brinsley  was  nothing 
but  a  very  handsome  '  cad,'  and  that  Fanny  Tre 
hearne  was  on  the  verge  of  marrying  him. 

The  conversation,  meanwhile,  was  lively  to  the 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  67 

ear,  if  not  to  the  intelligence.  It  was  amazing  to 
see  how  the  three  spinsters  flattered  their  dar 
ling  at  every  turn.  Miss  Cordelia  led  the  cho 
rus  of  praise,  and  her  sisters,  to  speak  musically, 
took  up  the  theme,  and  answer,  and  counter- 
theme  of  the  fugue,  successively,  in  many  keys. 
There  was  nothing  that  Mr.  Brinsley  did  not 
know  and  could  not  do,  according  to  the  three 
Miss  Miners,  or  if  there  were  anything,  it  could 
not  be  worth  knowing  or  doing. 

"  You'll  flatter  Mr.  Brinsley  to  death,"  laughed 
Fanny,  "though  I  must  say  that  he  bears  it  well." 

A  faint  shade  of  colour  rose  in  Miss  Cordelia's 
pale  cheeks,  indicative  of  indignation. 

"  Fanny  !  "  she  cried  reprovingly.  "  How  rude 
you  are !  I'm  sure  I  wasn't  saying  anything  at 
all  flattering." 

"  I  only  wish  people  would  say  such  things  to 
me,  then,"  retorted  the  young  girl. 

"  We're  all  quite  ready  to,  I'm  sure,  Miss  Tre- 
hearne,".  said  Brinsley,  smiling  in  a  way  that 
seemed  to  make  his  heavy  dark  mustache  retreat 
outward,  up  his  cheeks,  like  the  whiskers  of  a  cat 
when  it  grins. 


68  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

Fanny  looked  round  and  met  Lawrence's 
eyes. 

"  You  seem  to  be  the  only  one  who  is  ready," 
she  said,  laughing  again.  "  One  isn't  a  crowd,  as 
the  little  boys  say." 

"  Where  do  you  get  such  expressions,  my  dear 
child  ?  "  asked  Cordelia.  "  I  really  think  you've 
learned  more  slang  since  you've  been  here  this 
summer,  though  I  shouldn't  have  believed  it 
possible  !  " 

"  There  !  "  exclaimed  Fanny,  turning  to  Mr. 
Brinsley  again.  "  That's  the  kind  of  flattery 
my  relatives  lavish  on  me  from  morning  till 
night !  As  if  you  didn't  all  talk  slang,  the  whole 
time ! " 

"  Fanny!"  protested  Augusta,  whose  accom 
plishments  made  her  sensitive  and  conscious. 
"  How  can  you  say  so?" 

"  Well  —  dialect,  if  you  like  the  word  better. 
I'll  prove  it  you.  You  all  say  '  won't '  and 
'shan't' — and  most  of  you  say  '  I'd  like'  —  for 
instance  —  and  Mr.  Brinsley  says  '  ain't,'  because 
he's  English  —  " 

"  Well  —  what    ought    we    to    say  ?  "    asked 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  69 

Augusta.  "  Nobody  says  '  I  will  not,'  and  all 
that." 

"  You  ought  to.  It's  dialect  not  to  —  and  the 
absurd  thing  is  that  people  who  go  in  for  writing 
books  generally  write  out  all  the  things  you  don't 
say,  and  write  them  in  the  wrong  order.  We 
say  'wouldn't  you'— don't  we?  Well,  doesn't 
that  stand  for  'would  not  you'?  And  yet  they 
print  'would  you  not'  —  always.  It's  ridiculous. 
I  read  a  criticism  the  other  day  on  a  man  who 
had  written  a  book  and  who  wrote  '  will  not  you ' 
for  '  won't  you  '  and  'would  not  you  '  for  'wouldn't 
you  '  because  he  wanted  to  be  accurate.  You've 
no  idea  what  horrid  things  the  critic  said  of  him 
—  he  simply  stood  on  his  hind  legs  and  pawed 
the  air !  It's  so  silly !  Either  we  should  speak 
as  we  write,  or  write  as  we  speak.  I  don't  mean 
in  philosophy  —  and  things  —  the  steam-engine 
and  the  descent  of  man,  and  all  that  —  but  in 
writing  out  conversations.  But  then,  of  course, 
nobody  will  agree  with  me  —  so  I  talk  as  I 
please." 

"  There's  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  what  you  say, 
Miss  Trehearne,"  observed  Brinsley,  assuming  a 


70  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

wise  air.  "Besides,  I  beg  to  differ  from  Miss 
Miner,  on  one  point — I  venture  to  say  that  I 
don't  dislike  your  slang,  if  it's  slang  at  all.  It's 
expressive,  of  its  kind." 

"  At  last ! "  cried  Fanny,  with  a  laugh.  "  I 
get  some  praise — faint,  but  perceptible." 

"  Faint  praise  isn't  supposed  to  be  complimen 
tary,"  observed  Lawrence,  laughing  too. 

"  That's  true,"  answered  Fanny.  "  It's  just  the 
opposite  —  the  thing  with  a  d — .  I  won't  say 
it  on  account  of  Cordelia.  She'd  all  frizzle  up 
with  horror  if  I  said  it —  wouldn't  you,  dear? 
There 'd  positively  be  nothing  left  of  you  —  noth 
ing  but  a  dear  little  withered  rose-leaf  with  a 
dewdrop  in  the  middle,  representing  your  tears 
for  my  sins !  " 

"I'm  afraid  so,"  answered  Cordelia,  with  a 
little  accentuation  of  her  tired  smile. 

It  was  not  a  disagreeable  smile  in  itself, 
except  that  it  was  perpetual  and  was  the  expres 
sion  of  patiently  and  cheerfully  borne  adversity, 
rather  than  of  any  satisfaction  with  things  in 
general.  For  the  lives  of  the  three  Miss  Miners 
had  not  been  happy.  Sometimes  Fanny  felt  a 


LOVE   IN  IDLENESS.  71 

sincere  and  loving  pity  for  the  three,  and  espe 
cially  for  the  eldest.  But  there  were  also  times 
when  Cordelia's  smile  exasperated  her  beyond 
endurance. 

Mr.  Brinsley  rose  to  go,  rather  suddenly,  after 
checking  a  movement  of  his  hand  in  the  direc- 

o 

tion  of  his  watch. 

"You're  not  going,  surely!"  cried  one  or 
two  of  the  Miss  Miners.  "You're  coming  to 
dinner." 

"Stay  as  you  are,"  suggested  Fanny,  greatly 
to  Lawrence's  annoyance. 

"  You're  awfully  kind,"  answered  the  Canadian. 
"  But  I  can't,  to-night.  I  wish  I  could.  I've 
asked  several  people  to  dine  with  me  at  the 
Kebo  Valley  Club.  I'd  cut  any  other  engage 
ment,  to  dine  with  you  —  indeed  I  would.  I'm 
awfully  sorry." 

Many  regrets  were  expressed  that  he  could 
not  stay,  and  the  leave-taking  seemed  sudden  to 
Lawrence,  who  stood  looking  on,  still  wondering 
why  he  disliked  the  man  so  much.  At  last  he 
heard  the  front  door  closed  behind  him. 

"  Who  is  Mr.  Brinsley  ?  "   he  asked   of  Fanny 


72  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

Trehearne,  while  the  three    Miss    Miners    were 
settling  themselves  again. 

"Oh  —  I  don't  know.  I  believe  he's  a  Cana 
dian  Englishman.  He's  very  agreeable  —  don't 
you  think  so  ?  " 

"  He's  the  most  delightful  man  I  ever  met!" 
sighed  Augusta  Miner,  before  Lawrence  had 
time  to  say  anything. 

"  Did  you  notice  his  eyes,  Mr.  Lawrence  ?  " 
asked  Miss  Elizabeth.  "  Don't  you  think  they're 
beautiful?" 

"  Beautiful  ?  Well  —  it  depends,"  Lawrence 
answered  with  considerable  hesitation,  for  he  did 
not  in  the  least  know  what  to  say. 

"  Oh,  but  it  isn't  his  eyes,  nor  his  conversa 
tion  ! "  put  in  Cordelia,  emphatically.  "  It  is 
that  he's  such  a  perfect  gentleman!  You  feel 
that  he  wouldn't  do  anything  that  wasn't  quite 
—  quite  —  don't  you  know?" 

"  I'm  not  sure  that  I  do,"  replied  Lawrence,  in 
some  bewilderment.  "  But  I  understand  what 
you  mean,"  he  added  confidently. 

"  My  dear,"  said  Augusta  to  her  eldest  sister, 
"  all  that  is  perfectly  true,  as  I  always  say.  But 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  73 

those  are  not  the  things  that  make  him  the  most 
charming  man  I  ever  met.  Oh  dear,  no  !  Ever 
so  many  men  one  knows  have  good  eyes,  and 
talk  well,  and  are  gentlemen  in  every  way.  I'm 
sure  you  wouldn't  have  a  man  about  if  he  wasn't 
a  gentleman.  Would  you  ?  " 

«Oh  no — in  a  wider  sense  —  all  the  men  we 
have  to  do  with  are,  of  course  — " 

"Well,"  argued  Augusta,  "  that's  just  what  I'm 
telling  you,  my  dear.  It  isn't  those  things.  It 
lies  much  deeper.  It's  a  sort  of  refined  appre 
ciation  —  an  appreciative  refinement  —  both,  you 
know.  Now,  the  other  day,  do  you  remember  ? 

when  I  was  playing  that  Mazurka  of  Chopin  — 

did  you  notice  his  expression  ?  " 

"  But  he  always  has  that  expression  when  any 
thing  pleases  him  very  much,"  said  Miss  Eliza 
beth. 

"Yes,  I  know.  But  just  then,  it  was  quite 
extraordinary  —  there's  something  almost  child 
like—" 

"  If  you  go  on  about  Mr.  Brinsley  in  this  way 
much  longer,  you'll  all  have  a  fit,"  observed 
Fanny  Trehearne. 


74  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"  My  dear,"  answered  Cordelia,  gravely,  "  do 
you  know  what  a  'fit 'means?  Really,  sometimes, 
you  do  exaggerate  —  " 

"  A  fit  means  convulsions  —  what  babies  have, 
you  know.  They  used  to  say  it  was  brought  on 
by  looking  at  the  moon." 

Lawrence  felt  a  strong  inclination  to  laugh 
at  this  moment,  but  he  controlled  it,  and  only 
smiled.  Then,  to  his  considerable  embarrass 
ment,  they  all  appealed  to  him,  probably  in  the 
hope  of  more  praise  for  Brinsley. 

"  Do  tell  us  how  he  strikes  you,  Mr.  Law 
rence,"  said  Cordelia. 

"  Yes,'  do  !  "  echoed  Elizabeth. 

"  Oh,  please  do!"  cried  Augusta,  at  the  same 
moment. 

"  I  should  be  curious  to  know  what  you  think 
of  him,"  said  Fanny  Trehearne. 

"  Well,    really,"  stammered    the     unfortunate 

young  man,    "I've   hardly  seen   him  —  I've   not 

had  time   to  form  an  opinion — you  must  know 

him,  and  you  all  like  him,  and — it  seems  to  me 

-that  settles  it.     Doesn't  it?" 

While  Lawrence  was  speaking,  Miss  Cordelia 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


75 


stooped  and  picked  something  up  from  the  floor. 
He  noticed  that  it  was  the  leafless  stem  of  the 
flower  which  Brinsley  had  been  twisting  m  his 
fingers.  She  did  not  throw  it  away,  but  her 
hand  closed  over  it,  and  Lawrence  did  not  see 
it  again. 


CHAPTER   V. 


[GUIS  LAWRENCE  had  not  been 
at  Bar  Harbour  a  week  before  he 
became  fully  aware  —  if  indeed  there 
had  previously  been  any  doubt  on 
the  subject  in  his  mind  —  that  he  was  very  much 
in  love  with  Fanny  Trehearne.  It  became  clear 
to  him  that,  although  he  had  believed  himself  to 
be  in  love  once  or  twice  before  then,  he  had  been 
mistaken,  and  that  he  had  never  known  until 
the  present  time  exactly  what  love  meant.  He 
was  not  even  sure  that  he  was  pleased  with  the 
passion,  or,  at  least,  with  the  form  in  which  it 
attacked  him.  Sensitive  as  he  was,  it  '  took  him 
hard,'  as  the  saying  is,  and  he  felt  that  it  had 
the  better  of  him  at  every  turn,  and  disposed  of 
him  in  spite  of  himself  at  every  hour  of  the  day. 

76 


LOVE   IN    IDLENESS.  77 

When  he  was  alone  he  wondered  why  he 
had  been  asked  to  the  house,  and  whether  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Trehearne,  who  were  abroad,  knew 
anything  about  it.  He  was  a  modest  man,  and 
was  inclined  to  underestimate  himself,  so  that 
it  could  never  have  occurred  to  him  that  Fanny 
Trehearne  might  have  been  strongly  attracted 
by  him  during  their  acquaintance  in  town,  and 
might  have  insisted  that  he  should  be  asked  to 
come  and  pass  a  fortnight.  Moreover,  Fanny 
lost  no  opportunity  of  impressing  upon  him  that 
he  was  a  great  favourite  with  the  three  Miss 
Miners,  and  she  managed  to  convey  the  impres 
sion  that  he  had  been  asked  chiefly  to  please 
them,  though  she  never  said  so. 

Meanwhile,  however,  it  was  evident  that  the 
three  sisters  were  absorbed  in  Mr.  Brinsley,  and 
that  when  the  latter  was  present  they  took  very 
little  notice  of  Lawrence.  He  laughed  at  the 
thought  that  the  three  old  maids  should  all  be 
equally  in  love  with  the  showy  Canadian,  and  he 
told  himself  that  the  thing  was  ridiculous;  that 
they  were  merely  enthusiastic  women,  —  'gush 
ing'  women,  he  called  them  in  his  thoughts, — 


78  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

who  were  flattered  by  the  diplomatic  and  unfail 
ing  civilities  of  a  man  who  was  evidently  in 
pursuit  of  Fanny  Trehearne. 

For  by  this  time  he  was  convinced  that  Brins- 
ley  had  made  up  his  mind  to  marry  Fanny  if 
he  could;  and  he  hated  him  all  the  more  for  it, 
even  to  formulating  wicked  prayers  for  the 
suitor's  immediate  destruction.  The  worst  of 
it  was,  that  the  man  might  possibly  succeed. 
A  girl  who  will  and  can  ride  anything,  who 
beats  everybody  at  tennis,  and  who  is  as  good 
as  most  men  in  a  sail-boat,  may  naturally  be 
supposed  to  admire  a  man  who  does  those  things, 
and  many  others,  in  a  style  bordering  upon  per 
fection.  This  same  man,  too,  though  not  exactly 
clever  in  an  intellectual  way,  possessed  at  least 
the  gifts  of  fluency  and  tact,  combined  with 
great  coolness  under  all  circumstances,  so  far 
as  Lawrence  had  observed  him.  It  was  hardly 
fair  to  assert  that  he  was  dishonest  because  he 
flattered  the  three  Miss  Miners,  and  occupied 
himself  largely  in  trying  to  anticipate  their  small 
est  wishes.  He  did  it  so  well  as  to  make  even 
Fanny  Trehearne  believe  that  he  liked  them 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  79 

for  their  own  sakes,  and  that  his  intentions  were 
disinterested  and  not  directed  wholly  to  herself. 
Of  course  she  knew  that  he  wished  to  marry 
her;  but  she  was  used  to  that.  Two,  at  least, 
of  several  men  who  had  already  informed  her 
that  their  happiness  depended  upon  winning  her, 
were  even  now  in  Bar  Harbour,  —  presumably 
repeating  that  or  a  similar  statement  to  more 
or  less  willing  ears.  As  for  Lawrence,  he  could 
not  fairly  blame  Brinsley  for  his  behaviour  — 
he  confessed  in  secret  that  he  flattered  the  three 
Miss  Miners  himself,  with  small  regard  for  un 
prejudiced  truth.  Besides,  they  were  very  kind 
to  him.  But  he  found  it  hard  to  speak  fairly 
of  Brinsley  when  alone  with  Fanny  Trehearne. 

"  I  don't  like  the  man,"  he  said,  on  inadequate 
provocation,  for  the  twentieth  time. 

"  I  know  you  don't,"  answered  Fanny,  calmly, 
"  but  that's  no  reason  for  letting  go  of  the  tiller. 
Mind  the  boom!  she's  going  about  —  no  —  it's 
of  no  use  to  put  the  helm  up  now.  We've  no 
way  on  —  let  her  go!  No  — I  don't  mean  that 
—  oh,  do  give  it  to  me  !  " 

And    thereupon    Fanny,  who  was   sitting  for- 


80  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

ward  of  him  on  the  weather  side,  stretched  her 
long  arm  across  him,  pushing  him  back  into  his 
corner,  and  put  the  helm  hard  down  with  her  left 
hand,  while  she  hauled  in  the  sheet  as  much  as 
she  could  with  her  right,  bending  her  head  low 
to  avoid  the  boom  as  it  came  swinging  over. 

Lawrence  could  not  help  looking  down  at  her, 
and  he  forgot  all  about  the  boom,  being  far  too 
little  familiar  with  boating  to  avoid  it  instinc 
tively,  when  he  felt  the  boat  going  about.  It 
came  slowly,  for  there  was  little  wind ;  and  the 
catboat,  having  no  way  on  to  speak  of,  was  in  no 
hurry  to  right  herself  and  go  over  on  the  other 
tack,  —  but  just  as  the  shadow  of  the  sail  warned 
him  that  something  was  coming,  he  looked  up, 
and  at  the  same  instant  received  the  blow  full 
on  his  forehead,  just  above  his  eyes.  He  wore 
a  soft,  knitted  woollen  cap,  which  did  not  even 
afford  the  protection  of  a  visor. 

Fanny  turned  her  head  at  once,  for  the  blow 
had  been  audible,  and  she  saw  what  had  hap 
pened.  Lawrence  had  raised  his  hand  to  his 
forehead  instinctively. 

"  Are  you  hurt  ?  "  asked   Fanny,  quickly,  keep- 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  83 

ing  her  eyes  upon  him,  and  still  holding  the  helm 
hard  over  so  as  to  give  the  boat  way. 

Lawrence  did  not  answer  at  once.  He  was 
half  stunned,  and  still  covered  his  forehead  with 
his  hand.  The  young  girl  looked  at  him  in 
tently,  and  there  was  an  expression  in  her  eyes 
which  he,  at  least,  had  never  seen  there  —  a  sud 
den,  scared  light  which  had  nothing  to  do  with 
fear. 

"  Are  you  hurt  ?  "  she  asked  again,  gently. 

His   delicate  face  grew  suddenly  pale,  as  the 

blood,  which  had   rushed   up   at   first   under  the 

shock  of  the  blow,  subsided  as  suddenly.     Fanny 

turned  her  eyes  from  him  and  looked  ahead  and 

under  the  sail  to  leeward.     She  let  out  a  little 

more  sheet,  so  that  the  boat  could  run  very  free ; 

for  the  craft,  like   most  catboats,  had   a  weather 

helm  when   the   sheet  was  well  aft,  and   Fanny 

wanted   her   hands.       Moreover,    Lawrence   was 

now  on  the  lee  side  with  her,  and  the  boat  would 

have  heeled  too  far  over  with   the  wind  abeam. 

As  soon  as  the  sail  drew  properly,  Fanny  sat  up 

beside    Lawrence,  steering  across  him  with  her 

5  left  hand.     With  her  right  she  could  reach  the 


84  LOVE  IN  IDLENESS. 

water,  and  she  scooped  up  what  she  could  in  her 
hollow  palm,  wetting  her  sleeve  to  the  shoulder 
as  she  did  so,  for  the  boat  was  gaining  speed. 
She  dashed  the  drops  in  his  face. 

"  Are  you  hurt  ? "  she  asked  a  third  time, 
drawing  away  his  hand  and  laying  her  own  wet 
one  upon  his  forehead. 

"Oh  no,"  he  answered  faintly.  "  I'm  not  hurt 
at  all." 

She  could  tell  by  his  voice  that  he  was  not 
speaking  the  truth,  and  a  moment  later,  as  he 
leaned  against  the  side  of  the  boat,  his  head  fell 
back,  and  his  lips  parted  in  a  dead  faint. 

There  was  no  scorn  in  the  young  girl's  face 
for  a  man  who  could  faint  so  easily,  as  it  seemed ; 
but  the  scared  look  came  into  her  eyes  again, 
and  without  hesitation,  still  steering  with  her 
left  hand,  she  passed  her  right  arm  round  his 
neck  and  supported  him.  The  breeze  was 
almost  in  her  face  now,  for  she  was  looking 
astern,  and  she  knew  by  the  way  it  fanned  her 
whether  she  was  keeping  the  boat  fairly  before  it. 

Lawrence  did  not  revive  immediately,  and  it 
was  fortunate  that  there  was  so  little  wind,  or 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  85 

Fanny  might  have  got  into  trouble.  She  looked 
at  him  a  moment  longer  and  hesitated,  for  the 
position  was  a  difficult  one,  as  will  be  admitted. 
But  she  was  equal  to  it  and  knew  what  to  do. 
Letting  his  head  fall  back  as  it  would,  she  with 
drew  her  arm,  let  go  the  helm,  and  hauled  in  the 
sheet  as  the  boat's  head  came  up.  As  the  boom 
came  over  toward  Lawrence's  head,  she  caught 
it  and  lifted  it  over  him,  hauled  in  the  slack  and 
made  the  sheet  fast,  springing  forward  instantly 
to  let  go  the  halliards.  The  gaff  came  rattling 
down,  and  she  gathered  in  the  bellying  sail 
hastily  and  took  a  turn  round  everything  with 
the  end  of  the  throat  halliard,  which  chanced  to 
be  long  enough  —  the  gaskets  were  out  of  her 
reach,  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat. 

There  was  little  or  no  sea  on,  as  the  tide  was 
near  the  turning,  and  the  catboat  was  rocking 
softly  to  the  little  waves  when  Fanny  came  aft 
again.  Lawrence's  head  was  still  hanging  back, 
his  lips  were  parted,  and  his  eyes  were  half  open, 
showing  the  whites  in  a  rather  ghastly  way. 
With  strong  arms  the  young  girl  half  lifted  him, 
and  let  him  gently  down  upon  the  cushions  in 


86  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

the  stern-sheets.  Then  she  leaned  over  the  side 
and  wetted  her  handkerchief  and  laid  it  upon 
his  bruised  forehead.  The  cold  water  and  the 
change  of  position  brought  him  to  himself. 

He  opened  his  eyes  and  looked  up  into  her 
face  as  she  bent  over  him.  Then,  all  at  once, 
he  seemed  to  realize  what  had  happened,  and 
with  an  exclamation  he  tried  to  sit  up.  But 
she  would  not  let  him. 

"  Lie  still  a  minute  longer !  "  she  said  authori 
tatively.  "  You'll  be  all  right  in  a  little  while." 

"  But  it  isn't  anything,  I  assure  you,"  he  pro 
tested,  looking  about  him  in  a  dazed  way. 
"  Please  let  me  sit  up !  I  won't  make  a  fool 
of  myself  again  —  it's  only  my  heart,  you  know. 
It  stops  sometimes  —  it  wasn't  the  knock." 

"Your  heart?"  repeated  Fanny,  with  greater 
anxiety  than  Lawrence  might  have  expected. 
"You  haven't  got  heart  disease,  have  you?" 

"  Oh  no  —  not  so  bad  as  that.  It's  all  right 
now.  It  will  begin  to  beat  very  hard  presently 
—  there — I  can  feel  it  —  and  then  it  will  go  on 
regularly  again.  It  isn't  anything.  I  fancy  I 
smoke  too  much  — or  it's  coffee  —  or  something. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  87 

Please  don't  look  as  though  you  thought  it  were 
anything  serious,  Miss  Trehearne.  I  assure  you, 
it's  nothing.  Lots  of  people  have  it." 

"  It  is  serious.  Anything  that  has  to  do  with 
the  heart  is  serious." 

Lawrence  smiled  faintly. 

"  Is  that  a  joke  ?  "  he  asked.  "  If  it  is,  please 
let  me  sit  up." 

"No  —  that  isn't  a  reason,"  answered  Fanny, 
laughing  a  little,  though  her  eyes  were  still  grave. 
"  You  must  lie  still  a  little  longer.  You  might 
faint  again,  you  know.  It  must  be  dangerous  to 
have  one's  heart  behaving  so  strangely." 

"Oh  —  I  don't  believe  so." 

"  You  don't  believe  so  ?  You  mean  that  it's 
possible,  but  that  you  hope  it  won't  stop  ?  Is 
that  it  ?  " 

"Oh  —  well  —  perhaps.  But  I  don't  think 
there's  any  real  danger.  Besides  —  if  it  did,  it's 
easy,  you  know." 

"  What's  easy  ?  " 

"  It's  an  easy  death  —  over  at.  once,  in  a  flash. 
No  lingering  and  last  words  and  all  that."  He 
laughed. 


88  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

Fanny  Trehearne's  sunburned  cheeks  grew 
pale  under  their  tan,  and  her  cool  grey  eyes 
turned  slowly  away  from  his  face,  and  rested  on 
the  blue  water. 

"  Please  don't  talk  about  such  things  !  "  she 
said  in  a  tone  that  seemed  hard  to  Lawrence. 

"  Are  you  afraid  of  death  ? "  he  asked,  still 
smiling. 

"  I  ?  "  She  turned  upon  him  indignantly. 
"  No  —  I  don't  believe  that  I'm  much  afraid  of 
anything  —  for  myself." 

"  You  turned  pale,"  observed  the  young  man, 
raising  himself  on  his  elbow  as  he  lay  on  the 
cushions,  and  looking  at  her.  Her  colour  came 
back  more  quickly  than  it  had  gone. 

"  Did  I  ? "  she  asked  indifferently  enough. 
"  It's  probably  the  sun.  It's  hot,  lying  here  and 
drifting." 

"  No.  It  wasn't  the  sun,"  said  Lawrence,  with 
conviction.  "  You  were  thinking  that  somebody 
you  are  fond  of  might  die  suddenly.  We  were 
talking  about  death." 

"What  difference  does  it  make  whom  I  was 
^thinking  of  ?  "  She  spoke  impatiently  now,  still 
watching  the  water. 


LOVE  IN  IDLENESS.  89 

"  It  makes  all  the  difference  there  is,  that's 
all,"  answered  Lawrence.  "  Won't  you  tell  me  ?  " 

"  No.  Certainly  not !  Why  should  I  ?  Look 
here  —  if  you're  well  enough  to  talk,  you're  well 
enough  to  help  me  to  get  the  sail  up  again." 

"  Of  course  I  am  —  but  —  "  Lawrence  showed 
no  inclination  to  move. 

"  But  what  ?  You're  too  lazy,  I  suppose." 
Fanny  laughed.  "Let  me  see  your  forehead  — 
take  your  cap  off,"  she  added,  with  a  change  of 
tone. 

Lawrence  thrust  the  cap  back,  which  did  not 
help  matters  much,  as  his  hair  grew  low  and 
partially  hid  the  bruise.  The  skin  was  not 
broken,  but  it  was  almost  purple,  and  a  large 
swelling  had  already  appeared. 

"  It's  too  bad !  "  exclaimed  Fanny,  looking  at 
it,  as  he  bent  down  his  head,  and  softly  touching 
it  with  her  ungloved  hand.  "Tell  me  —  do  you 
feel  very  weak  and  dizzy  still  ?  I  was  only 
laughing  when  I  spoke  of  your  helping  me  with 
the  sail." 

"  Oh  no  !  "  answered  Lawrence,  cheerfully.  "  It 
aches  a  little,  of  course,  but  it  will  soon  go  off." 


90  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"  And  your  heart  ? "  asked  Fanny,  anxiously. 
"  Is  it  all  right  now  ?  You  don't  think  you'll 
faint  again,  do  you  ?  " 

"  Not  a  bit." 

"  I'm  not  sure.     You're  very  pale." 

"  I'm  always  pale,  you  know.  It's  my  nature 
It  doesn't  mean  anything.  Some  people  are 
naturally  pale." 

"  But  you're  not.  You're  dark,  or  brown,  and 
not  red,  but  you're  not  usually  pale.  I  wish  I 
had  some  whiskey,  or  something,  to  give  you." 

She  looked  round  the  boat  rather  helplessly, 
as  though  expecting  to  discover  a  remedy  for 
his  weakness. 

"  Please  don't  make  so  much  of  it,"  said  Law 
rence,  in  a  tone  which  showed  that  he  was 
almost  annoyed  by  her  persistence.  "  I  assure 
you  that  I  won't  have  such  bad  taste  as  to  die 
on  your  hands  before  we  get  to  land ! " 

Fanny  rose  to  her  feet  and  turned  away  from 
him  with  an  impatient  exclamation. 

"  Just  keep  the  helm  amidships  while  I  get 
the  sail  up,"  she  said,  without  looking  at  him, 
and  stepping  upon  the  seat  which  ran  along  the 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  91 

side,  she  was  on  the  little  deck    in    a   moment, 
with  both  halliards  in  her  hands. 

Lawrence  sprang  forward  to  help  her,  forget 
ting  what  she  had  just  told  him  to  do. 

"  Do  as  I  told  you ! "  she  exclaimed  quickly 
and  impatiently.  "  Do  you  know  what  the  tiller 
is  ?  Well,  keep  it  right  in  the  middle  till  I  tell 
you  to  do  something  else." 

"  Don't  be  fierce  about  it,"  laughed  Lawrence, 
obeying  her. 

But  when  she  was  not  looking,  he  pressed  one 
hand  to  his  forehead  with  all  his  might,  as  though 
to  drive  out  the  pain,  which  increased  with  every 
minute. 

Meanwhile,  Fanny  laid  her  weight  to  the 
halliards,  and  the  sail  went  flapping  up,  throat 
and  peak.  The  girl  was  very  strong,  and  had 
been  taught  to  handle  a  catboat  when  she  had 
been  a  mere  child,  so  that  there  was  nothing 
extraordinary  in  her  accomplishing  unaided  a 
little  feat  which  would  have  puzzled  many  a 
smart  young  gentleman  who  fancies  himself  half 
a  sailor. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

|T  chanced  that  on  that  evening  Roger 
Brinsley  was  to  dine  with  the  Miss 
Miners.  He  was  often  asked,  and  he 
accepted  as  often  as  he  could.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  he  was  not  so  much  sought  after 
elsewhere,  as  he  was  willing  to  let  the  four  ladies 
believe,  for  there  were  people  in  Bar  Harbour 
who  shared  Lawrence's  distrust  of  him,  while 
admitting  that,  so  far  as  they  could  tell,  it  was 
quite  unfounded.  There  was  nothing  against 
him.  The  men  said  that  he  played  a  good  deal 
at  the  club,  and  remarked  that  he  was  a  good 
type  of  the  professional  gambler,  but  no  one  ever 
said  that  he  won  too  much.  On  the  contrary, 
it  was  believed  that  he  had  lost  altogether  rather 

92 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  93 

heavily  during  the  six  weeks  since  he  had  first 
appeared.  He  paid  cheerfully,  however,  and  was 
thought  to  be  rich.  Nevertheless,  the  men 
whose  opinion  was  worth  having  did  not  like 
him.  They  wondered  why  the  Miss  Miners  had 
him  so  often  to  the  house,  and  whether  there 
were  not  some  danger  that  Fanny  Trehearne 
might  take  a  fancy  to  him. 

It  was  very  late  when  Fanny  and  Lawrence 
got  home,  for  the  catboat  had  been  carried  far 
up  Frenchman's  Bay  during  the  time  after  the 
little  accident,  and  it  had  been  necessary  to  beat 
to  windward  for  two  hours  against  the  rising  tide 
in  order  to  fetch  the  channel  between  Bar  Island 
and  Sheep  Porcupine.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  pair  had  scarcely  time  to  dress  for 
dinner  after  they  reached  the  house. 

Lawrence  felt  ill  and  tired,  and  was  conscious 
that  the  swelling  on  his  forehead  was  not  beauti 
ful  to  see.  He  was  still  dazed,  and  by  no  means 
himself,  when  he  looked  into  the  glass  and 
knotted  his  tie.  But  though  he  might  well  have 
given  an  excuse  and  stayed  in  his  room  instead 
of  going  down  to  dinner,  he  refused  to  consider 


94  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

the  possibility  of  such  a  thing  even  for  a  moment. 
He  felt  something  just  then  which  more  than 
compensated  him  for  his  bruises  and  his  wretched 
sensation  of  weakness. 

The  conversation,  after  the  boat  had  got  under 
way  again,  had  languished,  and  had  been  so  con 
stantly  interrupted  by  the  often  repeated  opera 
tion  of  going  about,  that  Lawrence  had  not 
succeeded  in  bringing  it  back  to  the  point  at 
which  Fanny  had  broken  it  off  when  she  had 
gone  forward  to  hoist  the  sail.  But  he  had  more 
than  half  guessed  what  might  have  followed,  and 
the  reasonable  belief  that  he  might  be  right  had 
changed  the  face  of  his  world.  He  believed  that 
Fanny  had  turned  pale  at  the  idea  that  his  life 
was  in  danger. 

One  smiles  at  the  simplicity  of  the  thought,  in 
black  and  white,  by  itself,  just  itself,  and  nothing 
more.  Yet  it  was  a  great  matter  to  Louis  Law 
rence,  and  as  he  looked  at  his  bruised  face  in  the 
glass  he  felt  that  he  was  too  happy  to  shut  him 
self  up  in  his  room  for  the  evening,  out  of  sight 
of  the  cool  grey  eyes  he  loved. 

He  had  assuredly  not  meant  to  frighten  Fanny 


Canoeing  in  the  Harbour. 


Js&S 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  97 

when  he  had  spoken,  and  he  had  been  very  far 
from  inventing  an  imaginary  ailment  with  which 
to  excite  her  sympathy.  The  whole  thing  had 
come  up  unexpectedly  as  the  result  of  the  acci 
dent.  Hence  its  value. 

As  often  happens,  the  two  people  in  the  house 
who  had  been  most  hurried  in  dressing  were  the 
first  down,  and  as  Lawrence  entered  the  library  he 
heard  Fanny's  footstep  behind  him.  He  bowed  as 
they  came  forward  together  to  the  empty  fireplace. 
She  looked  at  him  critically  before  she  spoke. 

"You're  badly  knocked  about.  How  do  you 
feel  ?  "  There  was  a  man-like  directness  in  her 
way  of  asking  questions,  which  was  softened  by 
the  beauty  of  her  voice. 

«  I  feel  —  as  I  never  felt  before,"  answered 
Lawrence,  conscious  that  his  eyes  grew  dark  as 
they  met  hers.  "  You  told  me  something  to-day 
—  though  you  did  not  say  it." 

Fanny  did  not  avoid  his  gaze. 

"  Did  I  ? "  she  asked  very  gravely. 

"  Yes.     Plainly." 

"  I  am  very  sorry,"  she  answered,  with  a  little 
sigh,  and  turning  from  him  at  last. 


98  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"Are  you  taking  it  back?"  Louis's  voice 
trembled  as  he  asked  the  question. 

"  Hush !  " 

Just  then  the  voices  of  the  three  Miss  Miners 
were  heard  in  the  hall,  and  at  the  same  instant 
the  distant  tinkle  of  the  front-door  bell  an 
nounced  the  arrival  of  Roger  Brinsley. 

The  conversation  turned  upon  Lawrence's 
accident,  from  the  first,  as  was  natural,  consider 
ing  his  appearance.  He  dwelt  laughingly  on  his 
utter  helplessness  in  a  boat,  while  Fanny  was 
inclined  to  consider  the  whole  affair  as  rather 
serious.  For  some  reason  or  other  Brinsley  was 
displeased  at  it,  and  ventured  to  say  a  disagree 
able  thing.  He  had  lost  at  cards  in  the  after 
noon,  and  was  in  bad  humour.  He  spoke  to 
Fanny  with  affected  apprehension. 

"  You  really  ought  to  take  somebody  with  you 
who  knows  enough  to  lend  a  hand  at  a  pinch, 
Miss  Trehearne,"  he  said.  "Suppose  that  you 
got  into  a  squall  and  had  to  take  a  reef  —  you'd 
be  in  a  bad  way,  you  know." 

"  If  I  couldn't  manage  a  catboat  alone,  I'd 
walk,"  answered  Fanny,  with  contempt. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  99 

«  Yes  —  no  doubt.  But  if  a  squall  really  came 
up,  what  would  you  do?  Mr.  Lawrence  con 
fesses  that  he  couldn't  help  you." 

"  Are    you    chaffing,     Mr.     Brinsley  ? "    asked 
Fanny,    severely.     "  Or   do    you    think    I    really 
shouldn't  know  what  to  do?" 
"  I  doubt  whether  you  would." 
»Oh  —  I'd  let  go  the  halliards    and    lash  the 
helm  amidships,  and  take  my  reef  with  the  sail 
down —  'hoist  'em  up  and  off  again,' after  that, 
as  the  fishermen  say." 

"  I  think  you  could  stand  an  examination," 
said  Brinsley. 

"  I  daresay.  Could  you  ?  If  you  were  going 
about  off  a  lee  shore  in  a  storm  and  missed 
stays,  could  you  club-haul  your  ship,  Mr. 
Brinsley  ?  " 

The  three  Miss  Miners  stared  at  the  two  in 
surprise  and  wonder,  not  understanding  a  word 
of  what  they  were  saying.  It  was  apparent  to 
Lawrence,  however,  that  Fanny  was  bent  on 
putting  Brinsley  in  the  position  of  confessing  his 
ignorance  at  last ;  but  where  the  young  girl  had 
learned  even  the  language  of  seamanship,  which 


100  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


she  used  with  such  apparent  precision,  was  more 
than  Lawrence  could  guess.  Brinsley  did  not 
answer  at  once,  and  Fanny  pressed  him. 

"  Do  you  even  know  what  'club-hauling 
means  ?  "  she  asked,  mercilessly. 

"  Well  —  no  —  really,  I  think  the  term  must 
be  obsolete." 

"  Not  at  sea,"  retorted  Fanny. 

This  was  crushing,  and  Brinsley,  who  was 
really  a  very  good  hand  at  ordinary  sailing,  grew 
angry. 

"  Of  course  you've  had  some  experience  in 
catboats,"  Fanny  continued.  "  That  isn't  serious 
sailing,  you  know.  It's  about  equivalent,  in  horse 
manship,  to  riding  a  donkey  —  a  degree  less  dig 
nified  than  walking,  and  a  little  less  trouble." 

"  I  won't  say  anything  about  myself,  Miss 
Trehearne,"  said  Brinsley,  "  but  you  might  treat 
the  catboat  a  little  less  roughly.  I  didn't  know 
you'd  ever  sailed  anything  else." 

Here  the  Miss  Miners  interposed,  one  after 
the  other,  protesting  that  it  was  not  fair  to  use 
up  the  opportunities  of  conversation  in  such 
nautical  jargon. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  101 

"  I  only  wished  to  prove  to  Mr.  Brinsley  that 
I'm  to  be  trusted  at  sea,"  Fanny  answered. 
,    "My   dear   child,"    said    Miss    Cordelia,    "Mr. 
Brinsley  knows    that,   and  he   must  be    a   good 
judge,  having  been  in  the  navy." 

"Oh,  I  didn't  know  you'd  been  in  the  navy, 
Mr.  Brinsley,"  said  the  pitiless  young  girl,  fixing 
her  eyes  on  his  with  an  expression  which  he,  per 
haps,  understood,  though  no  one  else  noticed  it. 
"  The  English  navy,  of  course  ?  " 

"The  English  navy,"  repeated  Mr.  Brinsley, 
sharply. 

"  Oh,  well  —  that  accounts  for  your  not  know 
ing  how  to  club-haul  a  ship.  Your  own  people 
are  always  saying  that  your  service  is  going  to 
the  dogs." 

Even  Lawrence  was  surprised,  and  Brinsley 
looked  angrily  across  the  table  at  his  tormentor, 
but  found  nothing  to  say  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment. 

"  However,"  Fanny  continued  with  some  con 
descension,  "  I'm  rather  glad  to  know  you're  a 
navy  man.  I'll  get  you  to  come  out  with  me 
some  day  and  verify  some  of  the  bearings  on  our 


102  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

local  chart.  I  believe  there  are  one  or  two  mis 
takes.  We'll  take  the  sextant  and  my  chronom 
eter  with  us,  and  the  tables,  and  take  the  sun  — 
each  of  us,  you  know,  and  work  it  out  separately, 
and  see  how  near  we  get.  That  will  be  great 
fun.  You  must  all  come  and  see  Mr.  Brinsley 
and  me  take  the  sun,"  she  added,  looking  round 
at  the  others.  "  Let's  go  to-morrow.  We'll  take 
our  luncheon  with  us  and  picnic  on  board.  Can 
you  come  to-morrow,  Mr.  Brinsley  ?  We  must 
start  at  eleven  so  as  to  get  far  enough  out  to 
have  a  horizon  by  noon.  I  hope  you're  not  en 
gaged  ?  Are  you  ?  " 

"  I'm  sorry  to  say  I  am,"  answered  the  unfor 
tunate  man.  "  I'm  going  to  ride  with  some  peo 
ple  just  at  that  hour." 

"  How  unlucky ! "  exclaimed  Fanny,  who  had 
expected  the  refusal.  "  I'll  take  Mr.  Lawrence, 
anyhow,  and  give  him  a  lesson  in  navigation." 

"  I've  had  one  to-day,"  said  Lawrence,  affecting 
to  laugh,  for  it  was  his  instinct  to  try  and  turn 
off  any  conversation  from  a  disagreeable  subject. 

"  You'll  be  all  the  better  for  another  to-mor 
row,"  answered  Fanny. 


LOVE   IN    IDLENESS.  103 


As  she  spoke  to  the  artist,  her  tone  changed 
so  perceptibly  that  even  the  Miss  Miners  noticed 
it.  Brinsley  took  the  first  opportunity  of  talking 
to  Miss  Cordelia,  of  whose  admiration  he  was 
sure,  and  the  rest  of  the  dinner  passed  off  in 
peace,  Brinsley  avoiding  a  renewal  of  hostilities 
with  something  almost  like  fear,  for  he  felt  that 
the  extraordinary  young  girl  who  knew  so  much 
about  navigation  was  watching  for  another  op 
portunity  of  humiliating  him,  and  would  not  be 
merciful  in  using  it. 

The  change  in  her  manner  to  him  had  been 
very  sudden,  as  though  she  had  on  that  partic 
ular  day  made  up  her  mind  about  something 
concerning  him.  Hitherto  she  had  treated  him 
almost  cordially,  certainly  with  every  appearance 
of  liking  him.  He  had  even  of  late  begun  to 
fancy  that  her  colour  heightened  when  he  entered 
the  room,  —  a  phenomenon  which,  if  real,  was 
attributable  rather  to  another  cause,  and  con 
nected  with  Lawrence's  presence  in  the  house. 

After  dinner  the  whole  party  went  out  upon  the 
verandah,  a  favourite  manoeuvre  of  Miss  Cor 
delia's,  whereby  the  society  of  Mr.  Brinsley  was 


104  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

not  wasted  upon  smoke  and  men's  talk  in  the 
dining-room.  This  evening,  however,  instead  of 
sitting  down  at  once  in  her  usual  place,  Cordelia 
slipped  her  arm  through  Fanny's,  and  led  her  off 
to  the  other  side  and  down  the  steps  into  the 
garden. 

"  The  moonlight  is  so  lovely,"  said  Miss  Cor 
delia,  "  and  I  want  to  talk  to  you.  Let  us  walk 
a  little  —  do  you  mind  ?  " 

The  two  went  along  the  path  in  silence,  in  and 
out  among  the  trees.  The  moon  was  full.  From 
the  sea  came  up  the  sound  of  the  tide,  washing 
the  smooth  rocks  at  high  water.  The  breeze 
had  'died  away  at  sunset  and  the  deep  sky  was 
cloudless.  Here  and  there  the  greater  stars 
twinkled  softly,  but  the  little  ones  were  all  lost  in 
the  moonlight,  like  diamonds  in  a  pure  fountain. 
Everything  was  asleep  except  the  watchful,  wake 
ful  sea.  The  two  women  stood  still  and  looked 
across  the  lawn.  At  last  Miss  Miner  spoke. 

"  Why  were  you  so  unkind  to  Mr.  Brinsley 
to-night  ?  "  she  asked  in  a  low  voice. 

Fanny  glanced  at  her  before  she  answered. 
The  eldest  Miss  Miner's  face  had  once  been 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


105 


almost  beautiful.  In  the  moonlight,  the  delicate, 
clearly  chiselled  features  were  lovely  still,  but  a 
little  ghostly,  and  the  young  girl  saw  that  the 
fixed  smile  had  disappeared  for  once,  leaving  a 
look  of  pain  in  its  place. 

"I  didn't  mean  to  be  unkind,"- Fanny  began. 


"  That  is,"  she  added  quickly,  correcting  herself, 
"  I'm  not  quite  sure  of  what  I  meant.  I  think 
I  did  mean  to  hurt  him.  He's  so  strong,  and 
he's  always  showing  that  he  despises  Mr.  Law 
rence,  because  he  isn't  an  athlete.  As  though  a 
man  must  be  a  prize-fighter  to  be  nice ! " 

«  Well  —  but  —  Mr.    Lawrence    doesn't    mind. 


106  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

You  see  how  he  takes  it  all.     Why  should  you 
fight  battles  for  him  ?  " 

"  Perhaps  I  shouldn't.  But  —  why  should  you 
take  up  the  cudgels  for  Mr.  Brinsley  ?  He's 
quite  able  to  take  care  of  himself,  if  he  will  only 
tell  the  truth." 

"  If!  "  exclaimed  Miss  Cordelia,  in  ready  resent 
ment.  "  He's  the  most  truthful  man  alive." 

"  Oh  !  And  he  told  you  he  had  been  in  the 
English  navy." 

"  What  has  that  to  do  with  it?  Of  course  he 
has,  if  he  says  so." 

"  He's  unwise  to  say  so,  because  he  hasn't," 
answered  Fanny,  in  her  usual  direct  way. 

"  How  in  the  world  can  you  say  that  a  man  like 
Mr.  Brinsley  —  an  honourable  man,  I'm  sure  — 
is  telling  a  deliberate  falsehood?  I'm  surprised 
at  you,  Fanny —  indeed  I  am  !  It  isn't  like  you." 

"  Did  you  ever  know  me  to  tell  you  anything 
that  wasn't  exactly  true  ?  "  asked  the  young  girl, 
looking  down  into  her  elderly  cousin's  sweet,  sad 
face,  for  she  was  much  the  taller. 

"  No  —  of  course  not —  but  —  " 

"  Well,  Cousin   Cordelia,  I   tell  you  that  your 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  107 

Mr.  Brinsley  has  never  been  in  the  English  navy. 
I  don't  say  that  I  think  so.  I  say  that  I  know  it. 
Will  you  believe  me,  or  him  ?  " 

"  Oh,  Fanny  ! "     Miss  Cordelia  raised  her  eyes 
with  a  frightened  glance. 

"  Not  that  it  matters,"  added  Fanny,  looking 
away  across  the  moonlit  lawn  again.  "  Who 
cares  ?  Only,  it's  one  of  those  lies  that  go  against 
a  man,"  she  continued  after  a  short  pause.  "A 
man  may  pretend  that  he  has  shot  ten  million 
grisly  bears  in  his  back  yard,  or  hooked  a  salmon 
that  weighed  a  hundred- weight  —  people  will 
laugh  and  say  that  he's  a  story-teller.  It's  all 
right,  you  know  —  and  nobody  minds.  But  when 
a  man  says  he's  been  in  the  army  or  in  the  navy, 
and  hasn't  —  people  call  him  a  liar  and  cut  him. 
I  don't  know  why  it's  so,  I'm  sure,  but  it  is  —  and 
we  all  know  it." 

"Yes,"  answered  Cordelia,  almost  tremulously; 
"  but  you  haven't  proved  that  Mr.  Brinsley  isn't 
telling  the  truth  —  " 

"  Oh  yes,  I  have !  There  never  was  a  deep- 
sea  sailor  yet  who  had  never  heard  of  club-haul 
ing  a  ship  to  save  her.  I  know  about  those 


108  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

things.  I  always  make  navy  officers  talk  to  me 
about  those  things  whenever  I  get  a  chance. 
Besides,  I  can  prove  it  to  you.  Ask  the  first 
captain  of  a  fishing-schooner  you  meet  down  at 
the  landing  what  it  means.  But  don't  tell  me 
I  don't  know  —  it's  too  absurd." 

Miss  Cordelia  looked  down.  Her  hand  still 
rested  on  Fanny's  arm,  and  it  trembled  now  so 
that  the  young  girl  felt  it. 

"  What  does  it  mean,  then  ?  "  asked  Cordelia, 
faintly. 

"  Oh,  it's  a  long  operation  to  tell  about.  It's 
when  you've  got  a  lee-shore  in  a  gale,  and  you 
want  to  go  about  and  can't,  because  you  miss 
stays  every  time,  and  you  let  go  an  anchor,  and 
the  ship  swings  to  it,  and  just  as  she  begins  to 
get  way  on,  you  slip  your  chain,  and  she  pays 
off  on  the  other  tack.  Of  course  you  lose  your 
anchor." 

"Oh  —  you  lose  the  anchor?  To  save  the 
ship?  I  see." 

"  Exactly." 

"  You  lose  the  anchor  to  save  the  ship,"  re 
peated  Cordelia,  softly,  as  though  she  were  try- 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  109 

ing  to  remember  the  words  for  future  use.  Shall 
we  go  back  ? "  she  suggested,  rather  abruptly. 

"  I  wish  you'd  answer  me  one  question  first," 
said  Fanny. 

"  Yes.     What  is  it  ?  " 

"  Why  are  you  so  awfully  anxious  to  stand  up 
for  Mr.  Brinsley  ?  You're  not  in  love  with  him, 
are  you  ?  " 

Cordelia  started  very  perceptibly,  and  turned 
her  face  away.  Then,  all  at  once,  she  laughed 
a  little  hysterically. 

•  In  love  ?     At  my  age  ?  " 

And  she  laughed  again,  and  laughed,  strange 
to  say,  till  she  cried,  clinging  all  the  time  to  the 
young  girl's  strong  arm.  Fanny  did  not  ask 
any  more  questions  as  they  walked  slowly  back 
to  the  house. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

jOME  with  me  into  the  village,  and 
help  me  to  do  errands,"  said  Fanny 
on  the  following  morning,  just  as 
Lawrence  was  feeling  for  his  pipe  in 
his  pocket  after  breakfast.  "  You  can  smoke 
till  we  get  there.  It  wouldn't  hurt  you  to  smoke 
less,  anyway." 

They  went  down  through  the  garden,  fresh 
and  dewy  still  from  the  short,  cool  night,  towards 
the  sea.  The  path  to  the  village  lies  along  a 
low  sea-wall,  just  high  enough  and  strong  enough] 
to  keep  the  tide  from  the  lawns.  But  the  tide 
was  beginning  to  run  out  at  that  hour,  and  was 
singing  and  rocking  itself  away  from  the  shore, 


no 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


Ill 


leaving  the  big  loose  stones  and  the  chocolate- 
coloured  rocks  all  wet  and  shining  in  the  morn 
ing  sun.  The  breeze  was  springing  up  in  the 
offing  and  would  reach  the  land  before  long,  kiss 
ing  each  island  as  it  passed  softly  by,  and  gently 


breaking  with  dark  blue  the  smoothly  undulating- 
water. 

The  sun  was  almost  behind  the  pair  as  they 
walked  along  the  sands,  and  shone  full  upon 
the  harbour  as  it  came  into  view,  lighting  up 
the  deep  green  of  the  islands  between  which 
passes  the  channel,  and  bringing  up  the  warm 
brown  of  the  soil  through  thick  weaving  spruces. 


112  LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 

The  graceful  yachts  caught  the  sunshine,  too, 
their  hulls  gleaming  darkly,  or  dazzlingly  white, 
their  slender  masts  pencilled  in  light,  against 
the  trees,  and  standing  out  like  threaded  needles 
when  they  showed  against  the  pale,  clear  sky. 
In  the  bright  northern  air,  the  artist  would  have 
complained  that  there  was  no  atmosphere  —  no 
'depth,'  nor  'distance,'  but  only  the  distinct  far- 
ness  of  the  objects  a  long  way  off  —  nothing  at 
all  like  '  atmospheric  perspective.' 

"Isn't  it  a  glorious  day!"  exclaimed  Fanny, 
looking  seaward  at  a  white-sailed  fishing-schooner, 
which  scarcely  moved  in  the  morning  air. 

"  It's  a  little  bit  too  swept  and  garnished,"  an 
swered  Lawrence.  "That  is  —  for  a  picture, 
you  know.  It's  better  to  feel  than  to  look  at, 
if  you  understand  what  I  mean.  It  feels  so 
northern,  that  when  you  look  at  it,  it  seems  bare 
and  unfinished  without  a  little  snow." 

"  But  you  like  it,  don't  you  ?  "  asked  the  young 
girl,  in  prompt  protest. 

"  Of  course  I  do.  What  a  question  !  I  thought 
I'd  been  showing  how  much  I  liked  it,  ever  since 
I  got  here." 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


113 


"  I'm  not  sure  that  you  show  what  you  like 
and  don't  like,"  said  Fanny,  in  a  tone  of  reflexion. 
"  Perhaps  it's  better  not  to." 

"You  don't,  at  all  events.     At   least  — aren't 


you  rather  an  inscrutable  person?  Of  course 
I  don't  know,"  he  added  rather  foolishly,  pulling 
his  woollen  cap  over  his  eyes  and  glancing  at 
her  sideways. 

"Inscrutable!     What  a   big  word!     'The  in- 


114  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

scrutable  ways  of  Providence  '  —  that's  what  they 
always  say,  don't  they?  Still  — if  you  mean 
that  I  don't  'tell,'  you're  quite  right.  I  don't  — 
when  I  can  keep  my  countenance.  Do  you  ?  Jt's 
always  far  better  not  to  tell.  Besides,  if  you 
commit  yourself  to  an  opinion,  you're  committing 
yourself  to  gaol." 

11  What  a  way  of  putting  it !  But  it's  really 
true.  I  should  so  much  like  to  ask  you  a  ques 
tion  about  one  of  your  opinions." 

"Why  don't  you?"  asked  Fanny,  turning  her 
eyes  to  his. 

"  Oh  —  lots  of  reasons  :  I'm  afraid,  in  the  first 
place;  and  then,  I'm  not  sure  you  have  one, 
and  then  —  " 

"  Say  it  all  —  I  hate  people  who  hesitate !  " 

"Well  — no.  There's  a  great  deal  more  to 
say  than  I  want  to  say.  Let's  talk  about  the 
landscape." 

"No.  I  want  to  know  what  the  question  is 
which  you  wished  you  might  ask,"  insisted 
Fanny. 

"It's  about  Mr.  Brinsley,"  said  Lawrence, 
plunging. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  115 

"Well,  what  about  him?"  Fanny's  tone 
changed  perceptibly,  and  her  expression  grew 
cold  and  forbidding. 

"^Nothing  particular  —  unless  it's  impertinent 
—  so  I  won't  ask  it." 

"  You  won't  ? "  asked  Fanny,  slackening  her  pace 

and  looking  hard  at  him.    "  Not  if  I  ask  you  to  ?" 

"  No,"  answered    Lawrence.     "  I'd   oblige  you 

by  asking  a  different  question,  but  not  that  one. 

You  wouldn't  know  the  difference." 

"  That's  ingenuous,  at  all  events."  She  looked 
away  again  and  laughed. 

"  I  never  fight  when   I   can    help  it,   and   you 
looked   dangerous   just    now.     You    always    are, 
in  one  way  or  another." 
"  What  do  you  mean  ? " 

"  Only  that  when  you  clon't  happen  to  be 
frightening  me  out  of  my  wits,  you  are  charming 
me  into  a  perfect  idiot." 

"Something  between  an  express  train  and  the 
Lorelei,"  laughed  Fanny. 

But  the  quick,  girlish  blood  had  sprung  to  her 
sunny  cheeks  and  lingered  a  moment,  as  though 
it  Loved  the  light.  They  were  now  in  the  village 


116  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

—  in  the  broad  street  where  the  shops  are.  At 
that  hour  there  were  many  people  moving  about 
on  foot  and  in  every  sort  of  vehicle,  short  of 
brougham  and  landaus.  There  was  the  smart 
couple  in  a  high  buckboard,  just  out  for  a  morn 
ing  drive;  there  was  the  elderly  farmer  with  his 
buggy  or  his  hooded  cart  —  his  wife  seated  be 
side  him,  with  her  queer,  sad,  winter-blighted 
face,  and  her  decent,  but  dusty  black  frock ;  — 
there  was  the  young  farmer  'sport'  driving  his 
favourite  trotting  horse  in  a  sulky.  And  of 
pedestrians  there  was  no  end.  A  smart  party 
bent  on  a  day's  excursion  by  sea  came  down  the 
board  walk,  brilliant  in  perfectly  new  blue  and 
white  serge,  with  bits  of  splendid  orange  and 
red  here  and  there,  fresh  faces,  light  hearts,  great 
appetites,  and  the  most  trifling  of  cares  —  the 
care  for  trifles  themselves.  Fanny  nodded  and 
smiled,  and  was  smiled  at,  while  Lawrence  at 
tempted  to  lift  his  soft  woollen  cap  from  his 
head  with  some  sort  of  grace  —  a  thing  impossi 
ble,  as  men  who  wear  soft  woollen  caps  well 
know.  But  the  air  seemed  lighter  and  brighter 
for  so  much  youth  laughing  in  it. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  117 

Fanny  dived  into  one  shop  after  another, 
Lawrence  following  her,  rather  awkwardly,  as 
a  man  always  does  under  the  circumstances, 
until  he  is  old  enough  to  find  out  that  there  is 
a  time  for  watching  as  well  as  a  time  for  talk 
ing,  and  that  more  may  be  learned  of  a  woman's 
character  from  the  way  she  treats  shopkeepers 
than  is  generally  supposed.  Fanny  showed  sur 
prising  alternations  of  firmness  and  condescen 
sion,  for  she  had  the  gift  of  managing  people 
and  of  getting  what  she  wanted,  which  is  a 
rare  gift  and  one  not  to  be  despised.  She 
asked  very  kindly  after  the  fishmonger's  baby, 
but  she  did  not  hesitate  to  tell  the  grocer  the 
hardest  of  truths  about  the  butter. 

*  I  always  do  my  own  marketing,"  she  said 
to  Lawrence,  in  answer  to  his  look  of  surprise. 
"  It  amuses  me,  and  I  get  much  better  things. 
My  poor  dear  cousins  don't  understand  market 
ing  a  bit  —  though  they  ought  to.  That's  the 
reason  why  they  never  get  on,  somehow.  I 
believe  marketing  is  the  best  school  in  the  world 
for  learning  what's  worth  having  and  what  isn't. 
Don't  you  ?  " 


118  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"  I  never  had  a  chance  to  learn,"  laughed 
Lawrence.  "  I  wish  you'd  teach  me  how  to  get 
on,  as  you  call  it." 

"Oh  —  it's  very  easy!  You  only  need  know 
exactly  what  you  want,  and  then  try  to  get  it 
as  hard  as  you  can.  Most  people  don't  know, 
and  don't  try." 

"  For  that  matter  I  know  perfectly  well  what 
I  want." 

"  Then  why  don't  you  try  and  get  it  ?  "  asked 
Fanny,  pausing  at  the  door  of  another  shop  as 
though  interested  in  his  answer. 

"  I'm  not  sure  that  it's  in  the  market," 
answered  the  young  man,  his  eyes  in  hers. 

"  Have  you  enquired  ?  "  Fanny's  mouth 
twitched  with  the  coming  smile. 

"  No  —  not  exactly.  I'm  trying  to  find  out  by 
inspection." 

"  If  you  don't  think  it's  likely  to  be  too  dear, 
you'd  better  ask  —  whatever  it  is." 

"  Money  couldn't  buy  it.  Besides,  I've  got 
none,"  added  Lawrence. 

"  You  might  get  it  on  credit,"  said  Fanny. 
"  But  I  think  it's  very  doubtful." 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  119 

Thereupon   she    entered    the   shop,  and  Law 
rence  followed  her,  meditating  deeply  upon  his 
chances,  and  asking  himself  whether  he  should 
run    the  great    risk  at  once,  or  wait  and  watch 
Brinsley.     To  tell  the  truth,  he  thought  his  own 
chances  very  small;    for  he    underestimated    all 
his  advantages  by  looking  at  them  in  the  light  of 
his  present  poverty,  not  seeing  that  in  so  doing 
he  might  be  underestimating  Fanny  Trehearne 
as  well.     A   somewhat  excessive  caution,  which 
sometimes  goes  with  timidity,  though  not  at  all 
of   the  sort  which  produces  cowardice,  is    often 
the  result  of  an  education  which  has  not  brought 
a  man  closely  into  competition  with  other  men. 
No  one  in  common  sense,  save  the  Miss  Miners 
and  Lawrence  himself,  could  have  imagined  that 
Brinsley  had  a  chance   against    him.     For    any 
thing  that  people  knew,  Brinsley  might  turn  out 
to  be  an  adventurer  of  the  worst  kind,  whereas 
Lawrence  was    of   good    birth,  a  man  of    whom 
many  knew  who  he  was,  and  whence  he  came, 
and    that   he  had    as    good    a    right   to    ask  for 
Fanny's  hand  as  any  man.     He  was    poor   just 
now,  but   no    one    believed   that   his   rich  uncle, 


120  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

a  childless  widower  of  fifty-five,  would  marry 
again,  and  Lawrence  was  sure  to  have  money 
m  the  end,  though  he  might  wait  thirty  years 
for  it. 

As  for  Brinsley,  Fanny  Trehearne  either  could 
not  or  would  not  pretend    that   she    liked   him, 
even   in    the    most   moderate    degree   of   distant 
liking,  after  she  had  satisfied  herself  that  he  was 
not  a  truthful  person  in  those  matters  in  which 
truth  decides  the  right  of  a  man  to  be  considered 
honourable.     Being,  on  the  whole,  more  careful 
than  most  people  about  the  accuracy  of  what  she 
said,  she  was  less  inclined  to  make  allowances  for 
others  than  a  great  many  of  her  contemporaries. 
Besides,  Brinsley  had  not  only  told  a  lie,  which 
was  mean  in  itself,  but  he  had  allowed  himself 
to  be  found   out,  which   Fanny  considered  con 
temptible. 

Up  to  this  time  she  had  seemed  to  think  him 
very  pleasant  company  and  not  a  bad  addition  to 
the  society  of  the  place. 

"  He's  so  good-looking !  "  she  had  often  said  to 
the  approving  Miss  Miners.  "  And  he  has  good 
manners,  and  knows  how  to  come  into  a  room, 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  121 

and  how  to  sit  down  and  get  up  —  and  do  lots  of 
things,"  she  added  vaguely. 

In  this  opinion  her  three  old-maid  cousins 
fully  concurred,  and  they  were  quite  ready  to 
say  as  much  in  his  favour  as  Fanny  could 
have  heard  without  laughing.  They  were  there 
fore  greatly  distressed  when  she  changed  her 
mind. 

"  He's  handsome,"  Fanny  now  admitted.  "  But 
he's  a  little  too  showy.  I've  seen  men  like  him 
at  races,  but  they  were  not  the  men  who  were 
introduced  to  me.  I  don't  think  they  knew  any 
body  I  knew  —  that  sort  of  man,  don't  you 
know?  And  his  English  accent  isn't  quite 
English,  and  I  don't  like  his  little  flat  whiskers, 
and  his  hands  irritate  me.  Besides,  he  said  he 
had  been  in  the  navy,  and  now  he  admits  that 
he  never  was.  That's  enough." 

"  My  dear  Fanny,"  Cordelia  answered,  on  such 
occasions,  "  there  was  a  misunderstanding  about 
that,  you  know.  He  was  in  the  navy,  since  he 
was  an  officer  of  Marines,  but  of  course  he  wasn't 
expected  to  know  —  " 

"  The  Marines  !  "  exclaimed  Fanny,  contempt- 


122  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

uously.     "  It's  only  a  way  of  getting  out  of    it, 
I'm  sure !  " 

Thereupon  the  three  Miss  Miners  told  her 
that  she  was  very  unjust  and  prejudiced,  as  they 
retired  together  to  praise  Mr.  Brinsley,  out  of 
hearing  of  their  young  cousin's  tart  comment. 
Miss  Cordelia  had  made  it  all  right  by  giving  the 
man  an  opportunity  of  justifying  himself  after  he 
had  privately  explained  to  her  that  the  Marines 
were  an  integral  part  of  the  navy,  but  that  they 
were  not  called  upon  to  know  anything  about 
navigation, — a  fact  which  must  account  for  his 
ignorance. 

He  had  very  firm  friends,  to  say  the  least  of  it, 
in  the  three  spinsters,  who  might  have  been  said 
to  worship  the  ground  on  which  he  walked,  and 
who  thought  it  a  sin  and  a  shame  that  Fanny 
should  treat  him  as  she  did.  As  for  young  Law 
rence,  he  looked  on,  with  his  observant  artist'< 
eyes,  and  never  mentioned  Brinsley,  except  t< 
Fanny  herself.  For  he  was  not  at  all  lacking  in 
tact,  however-  deficient  he  might  be  in  the  manly 
accomplishments. 

"  Do  you  know,"  Fanny  began,  one  day  when 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  125 

they  were  walking  in  the  woods,  "  I  don't  half 
mind  your  being  such  a  bad  hand  at  things. 
It's  funny.  I  thought  I  should,  at  first — but  I 
don't." 

"  I'm  awfully  glad,"  answered  Lawrence,  not 
finding  anything  else  to  say  to  express  his 
gratitude. 

"  Oh,  you  may  well  be  !  "  laughed  Fanny.  "  I 
don't  forgive  everybody  for  being  a  duffer.  And 
that's  what  you  are,  you  know.  You  don't  mind 
my  saying  so  ?  " 

"  Oh  no,  not  at  all."  The  tone  in  which  he 
spoke  did  not  express  much  conviction,  how 
ever. 

"  I  believe  you  do,"  said  Fanny,  thoughtfully. 

They  were  following  a  narrow  path  which  led 
upwards  along  the  bank  of  a  brook  under  over 
arching  trees.  Here  and  there  the  bank  had 
fallen  away,  and  the  woodmen  had  laid  down 
'  slabs '  of  the  rippings  first  taken  off  by  the  saw 
mill  in  squaring  timber.  It  was  damp  under 
foot,  for  it  had  lately  rained,  and  the  wet,  choco 
late-coloured  dead  leaves  of  the  previous  year 
filled  .the  chinks  between  the  bits  of  wood,  and 


126  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

sometimes  lay  all  over  them,  a  slippery  mass.  It 
was  still  and  hot  and  damp  all  through  the  thick 
growth  on  the  midsummer's  afternoon.  The 
whispered  mystery  of  countless  living  things 
filled  the  quiet  air  with  a  vibration  more  felt 
than  heard,  which  overcame  the  silence,  but  did 
not  break  the  stillness. 

The  path  was  very  narrow,  and  Fanny  had 
to  walk  before  her  companion.  Their  voices 
seemed  to  echo  back  to  them  from  very  near,  as 
they  talked,  for  amongst  the  trees  the  rich  under 
growth  grew  man-high.  On  their  right,  below 
them,  the  brook  laughed  softly  to  itself  as  a  faun 
might  laugh,  drowsily,  half  asleep  in  a  hollow  of 
the  deep  woods. 

And  then,  through  the  warm-breathing  secret 
places,  where  all  that  was  living  was  growing 
fiercely  in  the  sudden  summer,  stole  the  heart- 
thrilling  fragrance  of  all  that  lived,  than  which- 
nothing  more  surely  stirs  young  blood  in  the 
glory  of  the  year. 

For  some  minutes  the  pair  walked  on  in  silence, 
Fanny  leading.  The  young  man  watched  the 
strong,  lithe  figure  of  the  girl  as  she  moved 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  127 

swiftly  and  sure-footed  before  him.  Suddenly  she 
stopped,  without  turning  round,  and  she  seemed 
to  be  listening.  A  low  ray  of  sunlight  ran  quiv 
ering  through  the  trees  and  played  with  a  crisp 
ringlet  of  her  hair,  too  full  of  life  and  strength 
to  be  smoothed  to  dull  order  with  the  rest. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  asked  Lawrence,  in  a  low  voice, 
watching  her. 

"  I  thought  I  heard  some  one  in  the  woods," 
she  answered  quickly,  and  then  listened  again. 
Not  a  sound  broke  the  dream-like  stillness. 
"  I'm    sure    I   heard    something,"  said    Fanny. 
Then  she  laughed  a  little.     "  Besides,"  she  added, 
"it's   very  likely.     It's   awfully   hot.     "Here's  a 
good  place  to  sit  down." 

It  was  not  a  particularly  good  place,  being  damp 
and  sloping,  and  Lawrence  planted  his  heels  firmly 
amongst  the  wet,  dead  leaves  to  keep  himself  from 
slipping  down  into  the  path  as  he  sat  beside  her. 
"  There's  always  something  going  on  in  the 
woods,"  she  said  softly  and  dreamily.  "The 
trees  talk  to  each  other  all  day  long,  and  the 
squirrels  sit  and  crack  nuts  while  they  listen  to 
the  conversation.  I  like  the  woods.  Somehow 


128  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

one  never  feels  alone  when  one  gets  where  things 
grow  —  does  one?  " 

"  I  don't  mind  being  alone  when  I  can't  be  —  I 
mean  —  "  Lawrence  did  not  finish  his  sentence, 
but  bent  down  and  picked  up  a  twig  from  the 
ground.  "  Isn't  it  funny  !  "  he  exclaimed,  twist 
ing  it  in  his  hands.  "  All  the  bark's  loose,  and 
turns  round." 

"  Of  course  —  it's   an  old  twig,   and    it's   wet. 
When  don't  you  mind  being  alone  ?     You  were 
saying  something —  'when  you  couldn't  be  with' 
-something,  or  somebody." 

"  Oh  —  you  know !  What's  the  use  of  my 
saying  it  ? "  Lawrence  kept  his  eye  on  the 
twig. 

"  I  don't  know,  and  if  I  want  you  to  say  any 
thing,  that's  the  use,"  answered  Fanny,  whose 
prose  style,  so  to  say,  was  direct  if  it  was  anything. 

"  Yes  —  but  you  see  —  I  didn't  mean  anything 
in  particular."  He  broke  the  twig  in  two  and 
tossed  it  over  the  path  into  the  brook  below. 

Fanny  changed  her  position  a  little,  leaning 
forward  and  clasping  her  gloved  hands  round 
her  knees. 


Duck  Brook. 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  131 

"  You're  very  nice,  you  know,"  she  said  medita 
tively.  "  I  like  you." 

"  Because  I  don't  answer  your  questions  ? " 
asked  Lawrence,  looking  at  her  face,  which  was 
half  turned  from  him. 

"  Yes.     That's  one  of  the  reasons." 

"  It's  a  very  funny  one.  I  don't  see  much  reason 
in  it,  I  confess." 

"  Don't  you?  Don't  you  know  that  a  woman 
sometimes  likes  a  man  for  what  he  doesn't 

say  ?  " 

"  I  never  thought  of  it  in  that  way.  I  daresay 
you're  right.  You  ought  to  know  much  better 
than  I  do.  Especially  if  you  really  like  me,  as 
you  say  you  do." 

"Oh  —  I'm  honest.  I  never  said  I'd  been  in 
the  navy ! "  Fanny  laughed.  "  Besides,  if  I 
didn't  like  you,  why  should  I  say  so  ?  Just  to 
say  something  civil?  The  way  Mr.  Brinsley 
does  ? " 

"  Brinsley's  a  horror !  Don't  talk  about  him 
—  especially  here." 

"  I  don't  mean  to.  I  hate  him.  But  if  we 
were  going  to  talk  about  him,  this  would  be  a 


132  LOVE   IN    IDLENESS. 

good  place  —  one's  sure  that  he's  not  just  round 
the  corner  of  the  verandah  making  one  of  my 
three  cousins  miserable." 

"  How  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"Why  —  they  all  love  him.  Can't  you  see 
it?  I  don't  mean  figuratively.  Not  a  bit. 
They're  in  love  with  him,  poor  dears ! " 

"Nonsense!  not  really?"  Lawrence  laughed 
incredulously. 

"Yes  —  really.  It's  a  rather  dismal  sort  of 
love  —  they've  kept  their  hearts  in  pickle  for 
such  an  age,  you  know  —  old  pickles  aren't  good, 
either.  I've  no  patience  with  old  maids  who 
fall  in  love  and  make  fools  of  themselves  ! " 

"Perhaps  they  can't  help  it,"  suggested  the 
young  man.  "  Nobody  can  help  falling  in  love, 
you  know." 

"No,"  answered  Fanny,  rather  doubtfully. 
"  Perhaps  not.  I  don't  know.  It  depends." 

"  People  don't  generally  try  to  keep  them 
selves  from  falling  in  love,"  remarked  Lawrence, 
with  the  air  of  a  philosopher.  "  It's  more  apt 
to  be  the  other  way.  They  are  generally  trying 
to  make  some  one  else  fall  in  love  with  them. 
That's  the  hard  thing." 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  133 

"  Is  it  ?  "  Fanny  smiled.  "  Perhaps  it  is,"  she 
added,  after  a  pause.  "  I'd  like  to  tell  you  some 
thing —  " 

She  hesitated  and  stopped.  Lawrence  looked 
at  her,  but  did  not  speak,  expecting  her  to  go  on. 
The  silence  continued  for  some  time.  Once  or 
twice  Fanny  turned  and  met  his  eyes,  and  her 
lips  moved  as  though  she  were  just  going  to  say 
something.  She  seemed  to  be  in  doubt. 

"  I  don't  believe  in  friendship,  and  I  don't 
believe  in  promises,  —  and  I  don't  believe  much 
in  anything,"  she  said,  at  last,  in  magnificent 
generalization.  "  But  I'd  like  to  tell  you,  all  the 
same.  Do  you  mind  ?  " 

"  I  won't  repeat  it  if  you  do,"  said  Lawrence, 

simply. 

"No  —  I   don't   believe   you  will.     You  see  I 

haven't  any  friends,  so  I  never  tell  things,  —  at 

least,  not  much.     I  don't  believe  much  in  telling, 

anyway.     Do  you  ?  " 

"  Not  if  you  mean  to  keep  a  secret." 

«  oh  —  well  —  this  isn't  exactly  a  secret  —  only 

I  don't  want  any  one  to  know  it.     Yes,  I  know ! 

You  laugh  because  I'm  going  to  tell  you.     But 

you're  different,  somehow  —  " 


134  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"Am  I?" 

"  Oh  yes,  —  you  don't  count !  " 

Lawrence's  face  fell  a  little  at  this  last  remark, 
and  there  was  silence  again  for  a  few  moments. 

"  I'm  not  sure  that  I'll  tell  you,  after  all,"  said 
Fanny,  at  last. 

The  quiet  lids  were  half  closed  over  the  grey 
eyes,  and  she  seemed  to  be  thinking  out  some 
thing.  Lawrence  was  unconsciously  wondering 
why  he  did  not  think  the  white  lashes  ugly, 
especially  when  she  had  just  told  him  that  he 
did  not  'count.' 

"  Are  you  sure  you  won't  tell  ?  "  asked  the 
young  girl,  after  another  long  pause. 

"  If  you  don't  want  me  to,  of  course  I  won't," 
answered  Lawrence,  mechanically. 

"  It's  a  sort  of  confession,"  said  Fanny.  "  That's 
the  reason  why  I  don't  like  to  tell  you.  It's 
cowardly  to  be  afraid  of  confessing  that  one's 
been  an  idiot,  so  I  am  going  to  do  it  at  once  and 
get  it  over." 

"  It's  a  startling  confession ! "  laughed  Law 
rence,  softly.  "  I  don't  believe  it.  Is  that 
all  ?  " 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  137 

"  If  you  laugh  at  me,  I  won't  tell  you  anything 
more.  Then  you'll  be  sorry." 

"  Shall  I  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  All  right !     I'm  serious  now,"  said  Lawrence. 

"  Don't  you  want  to  smoke  ?  "  asked  Fanny, 
suddenly.  "  I  wish  you  would.  I  should  be 
less  —  less  nervous,  you  know." 

"  What  a  curious  idea !  But  I'll  smoke  if 
you  like." 

He  proceeded  to  fill  and  light  a  big  brier-root 

pipe. 

"  I  like  the  smell  of  a  pipe,"  said  Fanny,  watch 
ing  the  operation.  "  I'm  so  tired  of  the  ever 
lasting  cigarette." 

"  I'm  ready,"  Lawrence  said,  puffing  slowly 
into  the  still,  hot  air. 

"  Are  you  sure  you  won't  laugh  at  me  ?  Well, 
I'll  tell  you.  I  liked  Mr.  Brinsley  awfully  —  at 
first." 

Lawrence  looked  at  her  quickly  and  took  his 
pipe  from  his  mouth. 

"  Not  really  ? "  he  exclaimed,  only  half-inter- 
rogatively,  but  with  a  change  of  colour.  "  But 


138  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

then  —  well  —  I  don't  suppose  you  mean  any 
thing  particular  by  that,"  he  added,  to  comfort 
himself.  "  You  don't  mean  that  you  — "  He 
stopped. 

Fanny  nodded  slowly,  and  the  blush  that  rose 
in  her  face  reddened  her  sunny  complexion. 

"  Yes.  That's  what  I  mean.  I  cared  for  him, 
you  know,  —  that  sort  of  thing." 

"  It  hasn't  taken  you  long  to  get  over  it,  at 
all  events,"  answered  Lawrence,  gravely,  and 
wondering  inwardly  why  she  made  the  extraordi 
nary  confession,  seeing  that  it  hurt  him  and 
could  do  her  no  good. 

"No  — it  hasn't  taken  long,  has  it?  That's 
what  frightens  me.  If  I  weren't  frightened,  I 
shouldn't  talk  to  you  about  it." 

"  I  don't  understand  —  why  are  you  frightened  ? 
Especially  since  you've  got  over  it.  I  don't 


see  —  " 


"  I  thought  you  might,"  said  Fanny,  enigmati 
cally. 

A  long  silence  followed,  this  time.  Lawrence 
crossed  his  hands  on  his  knees  as  Fanny  was 
doing,  holding  his  pipe,  which  was  going  out. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  141 

They  both  sat  staring  at  the  opposite  bank  of 
the  brook. 

The  vital  loveliness  of  the  still  woods  was  all 
around  them,  whispering  in  their  young  ears, 
breathing  into  their  young  nostrils  the  breath 
of  nature's  life,  caressing  them  with  bountiful 
warmth.  They  sat  side  by  side,  very  near, 
staring  at  the  opposite  bank,  and  for  a  long 
time  no  words  passed  their  lips.  At  last  the 
young  girl  spoke  in  a  low  and  almost  monoto 
nous  tone. 

"  He  has  an  influence  over  people  who  come 
near  him,"  she  said.  "  Besides,  that  kind  of  man 
appeals  to  me.  It's  natural,  isn't  it  ?  I'm  so 
fond  of  all  sorts  of  things  out-of-doors,  that  I 
can't  help  admiring  a  man  who  can  do  everything 
so  well.  And  he's 'a  splendid  creature.  You've 
never  seen  him  ride.  You  don't  know — it's 
wonderful !  I  wish  you  could  see  him  on  that 
thoroughbred  Teddy  Van  De  Water  has  brought 
up  this  summer  —  Teddy's  a  good  rider,  but  he 
can't  do  anything  with  the  mare.  You  ought  to 
see  Brinsley — Mr.  Brinsley  —  you'd  understand 
better." 


142  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"  But  I  understand  perfectly,  as  it  is,"  said 
Lawrence,  rather  gloomily. 

"  Do  you  ?  I  wonder  whether  you  really  do. 
Do  you  think  there's  any  —  any  excuse  for 
me  ?  " 

The  words  were  spoken  in  a  faltering  shame 
faced  way  very  unlike  Fanny's  usual  manner. 

"  As  though  you  needed  any  excuse  for  taking 
a  fancy  to  any  one  who  pleases  you  !  "  answered 
Lawrence,  rather  coldly.  "  Aren't  you  perfectly 
free  to  like  anybody  who  turns  up  ?  " 

During  the  pause  which  followed,  he  slowly 
relighted  his  pipe,  which  had  quite  gone  out  by 
this  time. 

"  I  was  afraid  you  wouldn't  understand,"  said 
Fanny,  in  a  disappointed  tone. 

"  But  I  do  —  " 

"  No  —  not  what  I  mean.  I  hate  explaining 
things,  but  I  shall  have  to." 

Louis  Lawrence  wondered  vaguely  what  there, 
could  be  to  explain,  and,  if  there  were  anything, 
why  she  should  be  so  anxious  to  explain  to  him 
in  particular. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

j|T  was  in  this  way,"  said  Fanny.     "  Mr. 
Brinsley  brought  a  letter  of  introduc 
tion  from  Cousin  Frank.     You  know 
who  Frank  is,  don't  you  ?      He's  the 
brother  of  the  three  Miss  Miners." 

"  Of  course,"  nodded  Lawrence.  "  Everybody 
knows  Frank  Miner." 

"  And  he  knows  everybody.  But  he  didn't  say 
much  in  his  note,  and  Cordelia  has  written  to 
him  since,  because  she  wants  to  know  all  about 
Mr.  Brinsley,  and  it  appears  that  Frank  has  only 
met  him  once  or  twice  at  a  club,  and  doesn't 
know  anything  about  him.  However,  it  doesn't 
matter!  The  main  point  is  that  he  called  the 

143 


144  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

day  after  we  got  here,  and  in  twenty-four  hours 
we  were  all  in  love  with  him." 

"  Please  don't  include  yourself,"  said  Lawrence, 
his  delicate  face  betraying  that  he  winced. 

"  I  will  include  myself,  because  it's  true," 
answered  Fanny,  very  much  in  earnest.  "  I 
shouldn't  put  it  just  in  that  way  about  myself, 
perhaps,  —  but  I  took  a  fancy  to  him,  and  I  took 
him  to  drive,  and  I  found  that  he  could  drive 
quite  as  well  as  I,  and  we  went  out  riding 
with  a  party,  and  he  rides  like  an  angel  —  he 
really  does  —  it's  divine.  And  then  I  tried  him 
in  the  boat,  and  he  was  good  at  that.  So  I  be 
gan  to  like  him  very  much." 

"  They're  all  excellent  reasons  for  liking  a 
man,"  observed  Lawrence,  with  a  little  contempt. 

"  Don't  scoff  at  things  you  can't  do  yourself," 
said  Fanny,  severely.  "  It's  not  in  good  taste. 
Besides,  I  don't  care.  All  women  admire  men 
who  are  stronger,  and  quicker,  and  better  with 
their  hands  than  other  men.  One  always  thinks 
they  must  be  braver,  too." 

"  Yes,  that's  true,"  assented  Lawrence,  seeking 
to  retrieve  himself  by  meekness. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  145 

"  And  they  generally  are.  It  takes  courage  to 
ride  well,  and  it  needs  nerve  to  handle  a  boat  in 
a  squall.  I  don't  mean  to  say  that  you  can't  be 
brave  if  you  don't  know  how  to  do  those  things. 
That  would  be  nonsense.  You  —  for  instance  — 
you  could  learn.  Only  nobody  has  ever  taught 
you  anything,  and  you're  getting  old." 

Lawrence  laughed  outright,  and  forgot  his  ill- 
humour  in  a  moment. 

«  Oh  —  I  don't  mean  really  old,"  said  Fanny, 
immediately.  "  I  only  mean  that  one  ought  to 
learn  when  one  is  a  child,  as  I  did.  Then  it's  no 
trouble,  you  see  —  and  one  never  forgets.  Now, 
Mr.  Brinsley  began  young  —  " 

"  Yes,"  interrupted  the  young  man,  "  I  should 
say  so.  I'm  sorry  I  didn't." 

"  So  am  I.     It  would  have  been  so  nice  to  do 

things  —  " 

She  stopped  abruptly,  and  pulled  up  a  blade  of 
rank  grass,  which  she  proceeded  to  twist  thought 
fully  round  her  finger. 

"  I  shouldn't  like  you  to  think  I  was  a  flirt," 
she  said,  suddenly  turning  her  grey  eyes  upon 
him. 

, 

finny  IRSITTI 


146  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

He  met  her  glance  curiously,  being  consider 
ably  surprised  by  her  remark. 

"  Because  I  sometimes  think  I  am,  myself,"  she 
added,  still  looking  at  him.  "  Do  you  think  so? " 
she  asked  earnestly.  "  What  is  a  flirt,  anyway  ?  " 

"  A  woman  who  draws  a  man  on  for  the  pleas 
ure  of  breaking  his  heart,  I  suppose,"  answered 
Lawrence,  keeping  his  eyes  fixed  intently  on 
hers. 

"  Then  I'm  only  half  a  flirt,"  said  Fanny, 
"  because  I  only  draw  a  man  on,  without  mean 
ing  to  break  anybody's  heart." 

"  Don't,"  said  Lawrence.  <  "  It  hurts,  you 
know." 

"I  wonder-  The  young  girl  laughed  a 
little,  and  turned  away  from  his  eyes. 

"  What  ?  " 

"  Whether  it  really  hurts."  She  bit  the  end  of 
the  grass  blade,  and  slowly  tore  it  with  her  teeth, 
looking  dreamily  across  the  brook. 

"  Don't  try  it,  at  all  events." 

"  Mr.  Brinsley  doesn't  seem  to  mind." 

"  Brinsley  isn't  a  human  being,"  said  Law 
rence,  savagely. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  147 

"  What  is  he,  then  ?  " 

"A  fraud  —  of  some  sort.  'I  don't  care.  I 
hate  him !  " 

"  You're  hard  on  Mr.  Brinsley,"  observed 
Fanny,  slowly,  and  watching  her  companion 
sideways. 

"  Considering  what  you've  been  saying  about 

him  —  " 

"  I  said  nothing  about  him  except  that  I  began 
by  liking  him  awfully." 

«  Well you  left  the  rest  to  my  imagination. 

I  did  as  well  as  I  could.  If  you  didn't  hate  him 
yourself,  you'd  hardly  have  been  telling  me  all 
this,  would  you  ?  " 

"Oh  —  I  don't  know.  I  might  be  going  to 
ask  your  advice  about  —  about  him." 

"  Take  him  out  in  your  boat  and  drown  him," 
suggested  Lawrence.  "  That's  my  advice  about 

him." 

"  What  has  he  done  to  you,  Mr.  Lawrence  ?  " 
enquired  Fanny,  gravely.  "  Why  do  you  hate 
him  so  ?  " 

"  Why  ?  It's  plain  enough,  it  seems  to  me  — 
plain  as  a  —  what  do  you  call  the  thing  ?  " 


148  LOVE   IN    IDLENESS. 

"  Plain  as  a  marlinespike,  you  mean.  Only  it 
isn't.  I  want  to  know  two  things.  Do  you 
think  I'm  a  flirt?  And  why  do  you  want  me  to 
murder  poor,  innocent  Mr.  Brinsley  ?  Do  you 
mind  answering?" 

Lawrence's  dark  eyes  began  to  gleam  angrily. 
He  bit  his  pipe  and  pulled  at  it,  though  it  had 
gone  out ;  then  he  took  it  from  his  lips  and 
answered  deliberately. 

"  If  you  are  a  flirt,  Miss  Trehearne,  I  don't 
wish  Brinsley  any  further  damage.  He'll  do 
very  well  in  your  hands,  I'm  sure.  I  have  no 
anxiety." 

"  I  wouldn't  hurt  a  fly,"  said  Fanny.  "  If  I 
liked  the  fly,"  she  added. 

"  I  believe  the  spider  said  something  to  the 
same  effect,  when  he  invited  the  fly  into  his 
parlour." 

At  this  a  dark  flush  rose  in  the  girl's  cheeks. 

"  You're  rude,  Mr.  Lawrence,"  she  said. 

"I'm  sorry,  Miss  Trehearne  —  but  you're  un 
kind,  so  you'll  please  to  excuse  me." 

Instead  of  flushing,  as  she  did,  Lawrence 
turned  slowly  pale,  as  was  his  nature. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  149 

"  Even  if  I  were,  —  but  I'm  not,  —  that's  no 
reason  why  you  should  be  rude." 

"  I  didn't  mean  to  be  rude,"  answered  Law 
rence.  "  I  don't  see  what  I  said  that  was  so 
very  dreadful." 

"  It  was  much  worse  than  anything  I  said," 
retorted  Fanny,  biting  her  blade  of  grass  again. 
"  Because  I  didn't  say  anything  at  all,  you  know. 
Oh,  well  —  if  you'll  say  you're  sorry,  we'll  bury 

it." 

"  I'm  sorry,"  said  Lawrence,  without  the  least 

show  of  contrition. 

"  I  was  going  to  tell  you  such  lots  of  things 
about  myself,"  said  the  young  girl.  "You've 
made  me  forget  them  all.  What  was  I  talking 
about  when  we  began  to  fight?  I  began  by 
saying  that  I  liked  you,  and  you've  been  hor 
rid  ever  since.  I  won't  say  that  again,  at  all 
events." 

"  Excuse  me  —  you  began  by  saying  that  you'd 
liked  Brinsley  —  liked  him  awfully,  you  said.  It 
must  have  been  awful  —  anything  connected 
with  Brinsley  is  necessarily  awful." 

"  There   you   go    again.      Don't    bolt    so  —  it 


150  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

makes  bad  running.  I  told  you  why  I  liked 
him  so  much  at  first,  and  you  admitted  that  it 
was  natural.  Do  you  remember  that  ?  Well  — 
that  isn't  all.  After  I  liked  him,  I  began  to  care 
for  him.  I  told  you  that,  too.  Horrid  of  me, 
wasn't  it  ? " 

"  Horrid!" 

"  I  wish  you  wouldn't  agree  with  me  all  the 
time!"  exclaimed  Fanny,  impatiently.  "You 
know  I  really  did  care  —  a  little.  And  then  one 
day  in  the  catboat,  he  asked  me  — "  She 
stopped  and  looked  at  Lawrence. 

"  To  marry  you?  Why  don't  you  say  it?  It 
wouldn't  surprise  me  a  bit." 

"No,"  said  Fanny,  slowly,  "he  didn't  ask  me 
to  marry  him." 

"  In  -Heaven's  name,  what  did  he  ask  you  ?  " 
enquired  Lawrence,  exasperated  to  impatience. 

«  Oh  —  I  don't  know.  It  was  something 
about  the  channel  between  Bar  and  Sheep,  1^ 
believe.  Nothing  very  important,  anyway.  I'm 
not  sure  that  I  could  remember,  if  I  tried." 

«  Then, —  excuse  me,  but  what's  the  point  ?  " 

«  Oh I  know !  "  exclaimed  Fanny,  as  though 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  151 

suddenly  recollecting  something.  "  Not  that  it 
matters  much,  but  I  like  to  be  accurate.  It  was 
about  the  bell  buoy  off  Sheep  Porcupine.  You 
know,  I  showed  it  to  you  the  other  day.  Well 
—  I  told  him  how  it  had  been  carried  away  in  a 
storm  some  time  ago,  and  that  this  was  a  new 
one.  And  the  next  day  I  heard  him  telling 
Augusta  all  about  it,  as  though  he  had  known 
before,  you  see." 

"Well  — that  wasn't  exactly  a  crime,"  ob 
served  Lawrence,  who  could  not  understand  at 
all.  "You'd  told  him  —  " 

"  Yes,  but  he  said  he  remembered  the  old  one. 
That  was  impossible,  as  he  hadn't  known  any 
thing  about  it.  It  was  a  little  slip,  but  it  made 
me  open  my  eyes  and  watch  him.  I  used  to 
think  he  was  perfection  until  then." 

"  Oh,  I  see !     That  was  when  you  first  began 
to  find  out  that  he  wasn't  quite  straight." 

"Exactly.     It   made    all    the  difference.     I've 

"caught    him    out    more    than    once    since    then. 

The    other    night,    it    was    too    much    for    me 

when  he  talked  about  the  navy  — so  I  promptly 

smashed  him.     He  knows  that  I  know,  now." 


152  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"I  should  think  so.  All  the  same— I  don't 
mean  to  be  rude  this  time,  Miss  Trehearne " 

"  Be  careful !  " 

"No  —  I'll  risk  it.  Just  now  when  you  said 
he  had  'asked  you'  — you  stopped  short.  You 
knew  I  should  believe  that  you  had  been  going 
to  say  that  he  had  asked  you  to  marry  him, 
didn't  you  ?  " 

"Oh,  I  know!  I  couldn't  help  it — I  believe 
I  really  am  a  flirt,  after  all." 

"  I  shouldn't  like  to  believe  it,"  said  Lawrence, 
gravely. 

"Nor  I —  either.  I  only  wanted  to  see  how 
you'd  look  if  you  thought  he'd  offered  himself 
just  then." 

"  Just  then  !  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  he  has 
offered  himself  at  any  other  time  ?  " 

"Now  you're  rude  again  —  only,  I  forgive  you, 
because  you  don't  know  that  you  are.  It's  rude 
to  ask  such  questions  —  so  I'll  be  polite  and 
refuse  to  answer.  Not  that  there's  any  good 
reason  why  he  shouldn't  have  asked  me  to  marry 
him,  you  know.  The  fact  that  you  hate  him 
isn't  a  reason." 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  153 

"But  you  do,  yourself  —  " 
"  Not  at  all.  At  least,  I  haven't  said  so.  I 
wish  you'd  listen  to  me,  Mr.  Lawrence,  instead 
of  interrupting  me  with  questions  every  other 
moment.  How  in  the  world  am  I  to  make 
a  confession,  if  you  won't  let  me  say  two 
words  ?  " 

"  Are  you  going  to  make  a  confession  ?  "  asked 
Lawrence,  incredulously.  "  It's  all  chaff,  you 
know ! " 

Fanny  turned  her  cool  eyes  upon  him  instantly. 
"There's  a  lot   besides    chaff,"  she  said,  in  a 
very  different  tone.     "  I  can  be  in  earnest,  too 
—  when   I  care." 

She  certainly  emphasized  the  last  three  words 
in  a  way  which  might  have  meant  much,  accom 
panied  as  they  were  by  her  steady  look.  Law 
rence  felt  himself  growing  a  little  pale  again. 

"  Do  you  care  ?  "  he  asked,  and  his  voice 
shook  perceptibly. 

"For  Mr.  Brinsley?"  enquired  Fanny,  in 
stantly  changing  her  tone  again  and  beginning 
to  laugh. 

"  No  —  for  me/' 


154  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"  For  you  !  Oh  dear,  what  a  question  ! "  She 
laughed  outright. 

Lawrence  leaned  down  and  knocked  the  ashes 
out  of  his  pipe  against  the  toe  of  his  heavy 
walking-shoe  without  saying  a  word.  Then  he 
put  the  pipe  into  his  pocket.  She  watched  him. 

"  You've  no  right  to  be  angry  this  time,"  she 
said.  "  But  you  are." 

The  young  man  faced  her  quietly  and  waited 
a  moment  before  he  spoke. 

"  You're  playing  with  me,"  he  said,  calmly  and 
without  emphasis,  as  stating  a  fact. 

"  Of  course  I  am  !  "  laughed  Fanny  Trehearne. 
"What  did  you  expect?  But  I'm  sorry  that 
you've  found  it  out,"  she  added,  with  appalling 
cynicism.  "  It  won't  be  fun  any  more." 

"  Unless  we  both  play,"  suggested  Lawrence, 
who  had  either  recovered  his  temper  very  quickly, 
or  possessed  a  better  control  over  it  than  Fanny 
had  supposed. 

"  All  right ! "  she  exclaimed  cheerfully.  "  Let's 
play  —  let  us  play.  That  sounds  solemn,  some 
how —  I  wonder  why?  Oh — of  course  —  it's 
like  '  Let  us  pray '  in  church." 


LOVE  IN  IDLENESS.  '  .     155 

Lawrence  laughed  drily. 

"  Let  us  pray  beforehand,  for  the  one  who  gets 
the  worst  of  it,"  he  said.  "  He  or  she  will  need 
it.  But  I  shall  win  at  the  game,  you  know. 
That's  a  foregone  conclusion." 

Fanny  was  surprised  and  amused  at  the  con 
fidence  he  suddenly  affected  —  very  unlike  his 
habitual  modesty  and  self-effacement. 

"  You  seem  pretty  sure  of  /yourself,"  she  an 
swered.  "  What  shall  the  forfeit  be,  as  they  say 
in  the  children's  games  ?  " 

"  To  marry  or  not  to  marry,  at  the  discretion 
of  the  winner.  I  think  that's  fair,  don't  you  ? 
I  shouldn't  like  to  propose  anything  serious  — 
the  head  of  Roger  Brinsley  in  a  charger,  for 
instance." 

Fanny  laughed  again. 

"Yes,  it's  all  very  well !  "  she  protested.  "  But 
of  course  the  one  who  loses  will  be  in  earnest, 
and  the  one  who  wins  will  not." 

"  He  may  be,  by  that  time,"  suggested  Law 
rence. 

"Don't  say  'he,'  so  confidently — I  mean  to 
win.  Besides,  are  we  starting  fair?  Of  course 


156  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

I  don't  care  an  atom  for  you,  but  don't  you  care 
for  me  —  just  a  little?" 

"  I !  "  exclaimed  Lawrence.     "  What  an  idea !  " 

He  laughed  quite  as  naturally  as  Fanny  herself. 

"  Do  you  think  that  a  man  in  love  would  propose 

such    a   game    as    we    are    talking   about  ? "    he 

.asked. 

"  I'm  sure  I  don't  know  what  to  think,"  an 
swered  the  young  girl.  "  Perhaps  I  shall  know 
in  a  day  or  two." 

She  looked  down,  quite  grave  again,  and 
pulled  a  bit  of  fern  from  the  bank,  and  crushed 
it  in  her  hand,  and  then  smelled  it. 

"  Don't  you  like  sweet  fern  ?  "  she  asked,  hold 
ing  it  out  to  him.  "  I  love  it !  " 

"  That's  why  you  crush  it,  I  suppose,"  said 
Lawrence. 

"  It  doesn't  smell  sweet  unless  you  do.  Oh  — 
I  see !  You  were  beginning  to  play  the  game. 
Very  well.  Why  should  we  lose  time  about  it  ? 
But  I  wish  it  were  a  little  better  defined.  What 
is  it  we're  going  to  do?  Won't  you  explain? 
I'm  so  stupid  about  these  things.  Are  we  going 
to  flirt  for  a  bet  ?  " 


LOVE    IN   IDLENESS.  157 

"  What  a  speech  !  " 

"  Because  it's  a  plain  one  ?  Is  that  why 
you  object  to  it  ?  After  all,  that's  what  we 
said." 

"  We  only  said  we'd  play,"  answered  Lawrence. 
"  Whichever  ends  by  caring  must  agree  to  marry 
the  winner,  if  required.  But  I'm  afraid  the  time 
is  too  short,"  he  added,  more  gravely.  "I've 
only  a  week  more." 

"  Only  a  week ! "  exclaimed  Fanny,  in  a  tone 
of  disappointment.  "  Why,  I  thought  there  was 
ever  so  much  more.  That  isn't  nearly  time 
enough." 

"We  must  play  faster  —  and  hope  for  '  situa 
tions,'  as  they  call  them  on  the  stage." 

"Oh  —  the  situation  is  bad  enough,  as  it  is," 
answered  the  young  girl,  with  a  change  of  man 
ner  that  surprised  her  companion.  "  If  you  only 
knew  ! " 

"  Was  that  what  you  were  going  to  tell  me 
about  ? "  asked  Lawrence,  quickly,  and  with  re 
newed  interest.  "  I  thought  you  were  making 
game  of  me." 

"  That's    the    trouble !      You'll    never    believe 


158 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


that  I'm  in  earnest,  now.  That's  the  worst  of 
practical  jokes.  Come  along !  We  must  be 
going  home.  The  sun's  behind  the  hill  and  ever 
so  low,  I'm  sure.  We  shan't  get  home  before 


dusk.     How   sweet   that   fern    smells!     Give    it 
back  to  me,  won't  you  ?  " 

They  rose  and  began  to  walk  homeward  in  the 
warm  shadow  of  the  woods.  As  before,  Fanny 
went  first  along  the  narrow  path,  and  Lawrence, 
following  close  behind  her,  and  watching  the 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


159 


supple  grace  of  her  as  she  moved,  breathed 
in  also  the  intoxicating  perfume  of  the  aro 
matic  sweet  fern  which  she  still  carried  in  her 
hand. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

N  the  following  afternoon  Fanny  Tre- 
hearne  announced  her  intention  of 
riding  with  Mr.  Brinsley. 

"  I'd  take  you,  too,"  she  said  to 
Lawrence,  with  a  singularly  cold  stare.  "  Only 
as  you  can't  ride  much,  you  wouldn't  enjoy  it, 
you  know." 

"  Certainly  not,"  answered  Lawrence,  returning 
her  glance  with  all  coolness.  "  I  shouldn't  enjoy 
it  at  all." 

"  You  might  take  my  cousins  out  in  the  boat, 
instead." 

"  Are  they  tired  of  life  ?  "  enquired  the  young 
man,  smiling.  "  No.  I  want  to  make  a  sketch 
in  the  woods.  I'll  go  out  by  myself,  thank  you." 

1 60 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  161 

"  Do  you  mean  to  sketch  the  place  where  we 
stopped  yesterday  ?  " 

"Oh  no — I'm  going  in  quite  another  direc 
tion.  I  can't  exactly  explain  where  it  is,  because 
I've  such  a  bad  memory  for  names  of  roads,  and 
all  that.  But  I  can  find  it." 

Miss  Cordelia  Miner  looked  up  from  the 
magazine  she  was  reading. 

"  You're  not  going  to  ride  alone  with  Mr. 
Brinsley,  are  you  ?  "  she  asked  suddenly. 

"  Why  not  ?  "  asked  Fanny.  "  I  don't  see  any 
reason  why  I  shouldn't.  It's  safer  than  riding 
alone,  isn't  it  ?  " 

"  I  confess,  I  don't  like  the  idea,"  said  Miss 
Cordelia.  "  It  looks  as  though  there  were  some 
thing." 

"  Something  of  what  kind  ?  "  Fanny  watched 
Lawrence's  face. 

"Something — well  —  not  really  an  engage 
ment —  but  —  " 

"Well — why  shouldn't  I  be  engaged  to  Mr. 
Brinsley,  if  I  like?"  enquired  the  young  girl, 
arching  her  brows. 

"  Why,  Fanny  !     I'm  surprised  !  "    And,  indeed, 


M 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 


Miss   Miner  seemed    so,  for  she    almost  sprang 
out  of  her  chair. 

"  I  don't  know  why  you  need  be  horrified, 
though,"  returned  Fanny,  calmly.  "  Should  you 
be  shocked  if  any  one  said  that  you  were  engaged 
to  Mr.  Brinsley  ?  What's  the  matter  with  him, 
anyway?"  she  demanded,  dropping  into  her 
favourite  slang.  "You'd  be  proud  to  be  en 
gaged  to  him  —  so  would  Elizabeth  —  so  would 
Augusta!  Then  why  shouldn't  I  be  proud  if 
I  can  get  him?  I'm  sure,  he's  awfully  good- 
looking,  and  he  rides  —  like  an  angel." 

"  An  angel  jockey,"  suggested  Lawrence,  with 

out  a  smile. 

"  Not  at  all  !  "  exclaimed  Fanny.  "  He  rides 
like  a  gentleman  and  not  in  the  least  like  a 

jockey." 

Miss  Cordelia  had  risen  from  her  chair,  and 
turned  her  back  on  the  young  people. 

"You've  no  right  to  say  such  things  to  me, 
Fanny,"  she  said,  going  slowly  towards  the 
window.  Her  voice  shook. 

The  young  girl  saw  that  she  was  deeply  hurt, 
and  followed  her  quickly. 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  163 

."I  didn't  mean  to  be  §  horrid !"  said  Fanny, 
penitently.  "I  was  only  laughing,  you  know, 
and  of  course  I  shall  take  Stebbins.  And  I'm 
not  engaged  to  Mr.  Brinsley  at  all." 

"Why  didn't  you  say  so  at  once?"  asked 
Cordelia,  half  choking,  and  turning  away  her 

face. 

Fanny,  unseen  by  her  cousin,  glanced  at  Law 
rence,  and  then  at  the  door,  and  the  young  man 
departed  immediately,  leaving  the  two  cousins 
to  make  peace. 

He  did  not  remain  long  in  the  house.     Thrust 
ing  a  sketch-book  and  a  pencil  into  his  pocket, 
with  his  pipe  and  pouch,  he  went  out  without 
seeing  Fanny  again,  taking  her  at  her  word  with 
regard  to  her  plans  for  the  afternoon.     An  hour 
later,  he   was    seated    under   a   tree  high    upon 
the  side  of  the  hill  and  almost  out  of  sight  of 
the  Otter   Cliff  road.     There  was  nothing  par 
ticular  in  the  way   of  a  view  from    that   point, 
but    there   were    endless    trees,   and     Lawrence 
amused    himself  in   making  a  rough  study  of  a 
mixed  group  of   white  pines,  firs,    and  hackma 
tacks. 


164  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

He  did  not  draw  very  carefully,  nor  even  in 
dustriously,    and    more   than    once    he    stopped 
working  altogether  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  at 
a    time.      His    principal    object    in    coming   had 
been   to   get   out  of  the  way  just    a  little  more 
promptly  and  completely  than  Fanny  could  have 
expected.     His    thoughts  were  much   more  con 
cerned  with  her  than  with  what  he  was  doing. 
Naturally    enough,    he    was    trying    to    under 
stand  the  real  bent  of  the  girl's  feelings.     Set 
ting  aside   the   absurd    chaff  which   had  formed 
a  good  deal  of  the  conversation  on  the  previous 
afternoon,   he   tried  to   extract   from    it  enough 
of  truth  to  guide  him,  aiding  himself  by  recall 
ing  little    circumstances    as   well    as  words,   for 
the  one  had  often  belied  the  other. 

He  saw  clearly  that  Fanny  Trehearne  might 
have  said  to  him,  'I  like  you,  but  I  clo  not 
love  you  —  win  me  if  you  can  ! '  But  it  was  like 
her  to  propose  to  'flirt  for  a  bet'-  -being  at 
heart  perhaps  less  of  a  flirt  than  she  laugh 
ingly  admitted  herself  to  be.  But  that  was  not 
the  point  which  chiefly  interested  him.  What 
he  wished  to  know  was,  just  how  far  that  un- 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  165 

defined  liking  for  him  extended.  To  speak  in 
the  common  phrase,  he  did  not  'know  where 
he  was'  with  her,  and  it  seemed  that  he  had 
no  means  of  finding  out.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  knew  very  well  indeed  that  he  himself  was 
badly  in  love.  The  symptoms  were  not  to  be 
mistaken,  nor  had  he  been  in  love  so  often 
already  as  to  make  him  sceptical  as  to  what 
he  felt.  He  was  more  distrustful  of  the  result 
than  of  the  impulse. 

In  his  opinion  Fanny  was  much  too  frank  to 
be  a  flirt.     Her  directness  was  one  of  her  princi 
pal  charms,  though  he  could  not  help  suspecting 
that  it  must  be  one  of   her  chief   weapons.     A 
little  hesitation  is  often  less  deceptive  than  clear- 
eyed,  outspoken    truth.     But    Lawrence  was   no 
more  able  than  most  men  of  his  age  —  or,  indeed, 
of   any  age  —  to  follow  out  a  continuous    train 
of  thought  where  a  woman  was  concerned.     It 
is  more  often  the  woman's  personality  that  con 
cerns    us,  unreasoning  men,   than    the   probable 
direction  of  her  own  reasoning  about    us.     We 
do  not  make  love  to  an  argument,  so  to  speak, 
nor    to    a    set    of    ideas,  nor    to    a   preconceived 


1(36  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

opinion  of  our  merits  or  dements.  We  make 
love  to  our  own  idea  of  what  the  woman  is  — 
and  the  depth  of  our  disillusionment  is  the 
measure  of  our  sincerity,  when  love  is  gasping 
between  the  death-blow  and  the  death. 

Moreover,  what  is  called  nowadays  analysis 
of  human  nature,  belongs  in  reality  to  transcen 
dental  thought.  '  Transcendent '  is  defined  as 
designating  that  which  lies  beyond  the  bounds  of 
all  possible  experience.  So  far  as  we  know,  it  is 
beyond  those  bounds  to  enter  into  the  intelli 
gence  of  our  neighbour,  subjectively,  to  identify 
ourselves  with  him  and  to  see  and  understand 
the  world  with  his  eyes  and  mind.  It  follows 
that  we  are  never  sure  of  what  we  are  doing 
when  we  attempt  to  set  down  exactly  another 
man's  train  of  thought,  and  it  follows  also  that 
few  are  willing  to  recognize  the  result  as  at  all 
resembling  the  process  of  which  they  are  con 
scious  within  themselves.  On  certain  bases,  all 
men  can  appeal  subjectively  to  all  men,  and  all 
women  to  all  women.  But,  as  between  the  sexes, 
all  observation  is  objective  and  tentative,  whether 
it  be  that  of  the  author,  condemned  to  analyze 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  167 

a  woman's  character,  or  that  of  the  man  in  love 
and    attempting    to    understand  the   woman    he 

loves. 

And  further,  if  we  could    see  — as  it    is    pre 
tended  by  some  that    we    can    see    on    paper  — 
precisely  what  is  taking  place  in  the  intelligence 
of  those  we  meet  in  the  world,  our  friends   would 
be  as  unrecognizable  to  us  as  a  dissected  man  is 
unrecognizable  for  a  human  being  except  in  the 
eyes  of  a  doctor.     The  soul,  laid  bare,  dissected, 
and   turned  inside  out,  with  real   success,  would 
not  be  recognized  by  its  dearest  friend,  were  it 
ever  so  truthful  a  soul.     We  are  all  fundamen 
tally  and   totally  incapable  of  expressing  exactly 
what  we  feel,  and  as  we  have  no  means  of  con 
veying  truth  without  some  sort  of  expression,  we 
are  helpless  and  are  all  more  or  less  hopelessly 
misunderstood  — a   fact  to  which,   if  we  please, 
we  may  ascribe  that  variety  which  is  proverbially 
said  to  be  the  charm  of  life.     Doubtless,  this  is 
a  literary  heresy ;  but  it  is  a  human  truth  a  little 
above  literature. 

Lawrence    had    never   attempted    to   write    a 
book,  but  as  he  sat  on  the  slope  above  the  Otter 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


Cliff  road,  drawing  trees,  it  did  not  occur  to  him 
to  draw  a  picture  of  what  he  thought  about  the 
inside  of  each  tree,  instead  of  a  representation 
of  what  he  saw.  But  he  made  the  usual  fruitless 
attempt  to  understand  the  woman  he  loved,  and 
to  reason  about  her,  and  failed  to  do  either, 
which  is  also  usual.  The  conclusion  he  reached  . 
was  that  he  loved  her,  of  which  he  had  been 
aware  before  he  had  set  himself  to  think  it 

out. 

What  he  saw  was  a  strong  girl's  face  with  cool, 
inscrutable  grey  eyes  that  never  took  fire  and 
gleamed,  nor  ever  turned  dull  and  vacant.  Their 
unchanging  steadiness  contradicted  the  wayward 
speech,  the  sudden  capricious  confidence,  even 
the  gay  laugh,  sometimes.  Lawrence  had  a  lively 
impression  that  whatever  Fanny  said  or  did,  she 
never  meant  but  one  thing,  whatever  that  might 
be.  And  with  this  impression  he  was  obliged  to 
content  himself. 

From  the  place  where  he  sat,  he  had  a  glimpse 
between  the  trees  of  the  road  below.  On  the  side 
towards  him  there  was  a  little  open  bit  of  meadow, 
where  the  gorge  widened,  and  a  low  fence  with  a 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  1G9 

little  ditch  separated  it  from  the  highway.  On  the 
hillside,  above  this  stretch  of  grass,  the  trees  grew 
here  and  there,  wide  apart  at  first,  and  then  by 
degrees  more  close  together.  He  himself  was 
seated  just  within  the  thick  wood,  at  the  edge  of 
the  first  underbrush. 

Now  and  then,  people  passed  along  the  road : 
a  light  buckboard  drawn  by  a  pair  of  bays  and 
containing  a  smart-looking  couple,  with  no  groom 
behind;  a  farmer's  wagon,  long,  hooded,  and 
dusty,  dragged  at  a  disjointed  trot  by  a  broken- 
down  grey  horse ;  a  solitary  rider,  whose  varnished 
shoes  reflected  the  sunlight  even  to  where  Law 
rence  was  sitting ;  a  couple  of  pedestrians  ;  a  lad 
drivino- a  cow ;  and  then  another  buckboard  ;  and 


so  on. 


Lawrence  was  thinking  of  shutting  up  his  book 
and  climbing  higher  up  the  steep  side  of  New 
port  Mountain  — as  the  hill  is  called— in  search 
of  another  study,  when,  glancing  down  through 
the  trees,  he  saw  three  riders  coming  slowly  along 
the  road  —  two  in  front,  and  one  at  some  distance 
behind  —  a  lady  and  gentleman  and  then  a  groom. 
His  eyes  were  good,  and  he  would  have  known 


170  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

Fanny  Trehearne's  figure  and  bearing  even  at  a 
greater  distance.  She  sat  so  straight  —  hands 
clown,  elbows  in,  head  high,  square  in  her  saddle 
yet  flexible,  and  all  moving  with  every  movement 
of  her  Kentucky  thoroughbred.  They  came 
nearer,  and  Lawrence  saw  them  distinctly  now. 
Brinsley  was  beside  her.  Lawrence  laughed  to 
himself  at  the  idea  that  the  man  could  ever  have 
been  in  the  Marines.  He  sat  the  horse  he  rode 
much  more  like  a  Mexican  or  an  Indian  than  like 
a  sailor  or  a  marine.  Even  at  that  distance  Law 
rence  could  not  help  admiring  his  really  magnifi 
cent  figure,  for  Brinsley's  perfections  were  showy 
and  massed  well  afar  off. 

The  riders  reached  the  point  where  the  little 
meadow  spread  out  on  their  left,  and  to  Law 
rence's  surprise,  they  halted  and  seemed  to  be 
consulting  about  something.  They  had  turned 
towards  him,  and  as  they  talked,  he  could  see 
that  Fanny  looked  across  the  meadow  and  up  at 
the  woods  where  he  was  sitting.  It  was  of  course 
utterly  impossible  that  she  should  have  known 
where  he  was,  and  it  was  almost  incredible  that 
she  should  see  him,  seated  low  upon  the  ground 


On  the  Mountain. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  173 

in  the  deep  shade,  when  she  was  only  visible  to 
him  between  the  stems  of  the  trees.  Neverthe 
less,  not  caring  to  be  discovered,  he  crouched 
down  amongst  the  ferns  and  grasses,  still  keeping 
his  eye  on  the  couple  in  the  road  far  below. 

Presently  he  saw  Fanny  turn  her  horse's  head, 
walk  her  to  the  other  side  of  the  road,  and  turn 
again,  facing  the  meadow.  She  looked  up  and 
down  the  road  once,  saw  that  no  one  was  com 
ing,  and  put  her  mare  at  the  fence.  It  was  a  low 
one,  and  the  ditch  on  the  outer  side  was  neither 
broad  nor  deep.  The  thoroughbred  cleared  it 
with  a  contemptuously  insignificant  effort,  and 
cantered  a  few  strides  forward  into  the  grass, 
shaking  her  bony  head  almost  between  her  knees 
as  Fanny  brought  her  to  a  stand  and  turned 
again.  Brinsley  followed  her  on  the  big  Hun 
garian  horse  he  rode,  —  Mr.  Trehearne's  horse,  — 
jumping  the  fence  and  ditch,  and  taking  them 
again  almost  immediately,  to  wait  for  Fanny  on 
the  other  side  in  the  road.  She  followed  again, 
and  pulled  up  by  his  side.  But  they  did  not  ride 
on  at  once.  They  seemed  to  be  discussing  some 
point  connected  with  the  place,  for  they  pointed 


174  LOVE   IN    IDLENESS. 

here  and  there  with  their  hands  as  they  spoke. 
Fanny  reined  in  her  mare  and  backed  a  little,  as 
though  she  were  going  to  jump  again.  The  ani 
mal  seemed  nervous,  stamping  and  pawing,  and 
laying  back  her  small  ears. 

A  hundred  yards  or  more  in  the  direction  from 
which  they  had  come  the  road  made  a  short  bend 
round  the  foot  of  the  spur  of  the  hill,  known  as 
Pickett's.  Just  as  Fanny  put  the  mare  at  the 
fence  a  third  time,  a  coach  and  four  turned  the 
corner  of  the  road  at  a  smart  pace,  leaders  canter 
ing  and  wheelers  at  a  long  trot. 

Seeing  three  horses  apparently  halting  in  the 
wray,  some  one  in  the  coach  sent  a  terrific  and 
discordant  blast  from  a  post-horn  ringing  along 
the  road  as  a  warning.  At  that  moment  Fanny's- 
mare  was  rising  at  the  bars.  She  cleared  them 
as  easily  as  ever,  but  on  reaching  the  ground  in 
stantly  bolted  across  the  grass,  head  down,  ears 
back,  heels  flying.  It  all  happened  in  a  moment. 
The  two  men,  Brinsley  and  groom,  knew  too 
much  to  scare  the  thoroughbred  by  a  pursuit,  and 
confident  in  Fanny's  good  riding,  sat  motionless 
on  their  horses  in  the  road,  after  drawing  away 
enough  to  let  the  coach  pass. 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  177 

The  idiot  with  the  horn  continued  to  blow 
fiercely,  and  the  big  vehicle  came  swinging  along 
at  a  great  rate,  with  clattering  of  hoofs,  for  the 
road  was  hard  and  dry-baked  after  a  recent  rain 

and  with    jingling  of    harness    and    sound    of 

voices.  The  mare  grew  more  and  more  fright 
ened,  and  tore  up  the  hillside  like  a  flash,  directly 
away  from  the  noise.  The  young  girl  was  a 
first-rate  rider  and  knew  the  fearful  danger,  if  she 
should  be  carried  at  such  a  pace  amongst  the 
trees.  But  her  strength,  great  as  it  was,  for 
a  woman,  was  not  able  to  produce  the  slight 
est  impression  upon  the  terrified  creature  she 

rode. 

Lawrence  knew  nothing  of  riding,  but  the 
imminent  peril  of  the  woman  he  loved  was  clear 
to  him  in  a  moment.  He  had  a  horrible  vision 
of  the  wild-eyed  mare  tearing  straight  towards 
him  through  the  trees  —  wide  apart  at  first,  and 
then  dangerously  near  together. 

On  they  came,  the  thoroughbred  swerving 
violently  at  one  stem  after  another  —  the  young 
girl's  strong  figure  swaying  to  her  balance  at 
each  headlong  movement.  He  could  see  her  set 


178 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


face,  pale  under  the  tan,  and  he  could  see  the 
desperate  exertion  of  her  strength.  He  sprang 
forward  and  ran  down  between  the  trees  at  the 
top  of  his  speed. 


CHAPTER    X. 

HERE  is  nothing  equal  to  the  abso 
lute  fearlessness  of  a  naturally  brave 
man  who  has  no  experience  of  the 
risk  he  runs  and  is  bent  on  saving 
the  life  of  the  woman  he  loves.  Louis  Lawrence 
remembered  afterwards  what  he  had  done  and 
how  he  had  done  it,  but  he  was  unconscious  of 
what  he  was  doing  at  the  time. 

He  rushed  down  the  hill  between  the  closer 
trees,  and  with  utter  recklessness  sprang  at  the 
bridle  as  the  infuriated  mare  dashed  past  him. 
Grasping  snaffle  and  curb  —  tight  drawn  as  they 
were  —  in  both  hands,  he  threw  all  his  light 
weight  upon  them  and  allowed  himself  to  be 

i79 


180  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

dragged  along  the  ground  between  the  trees  at 
the  imminent  risk  of  his  life  —  a  risk  so  terrible 
that  Fanny  Trehearne  turned  paler  for  him  than 
for  her  own  danger.  In  half  a  dozen  more 
strides  they  might  both  have  been  killed.  But 
the  mare  stopped,  quivering,  tried  to  rear,  but 
could  not  lift  Lawrence  far  from  the  ground  nor 
shake  off  his  desperate  hold,  plunged  once  and 
again,  and  then  stood  quite  still,  trembling  vio 
lently.  Lawrence  scrambled  to  his  feet,  still 
holding  the  bridle,  and  promptly  placed  himself 
in  front  of  the  mare. 

For  one  breathless  instant,  Lawrence  looked 
into  Fanny's  face,  and  neither  spoke  nor  moved. 
Both  were  still  very  pale.  Then  the  young  girl 
slipped  off,  the  reins  in  her  hand. 

"  That  was  uncommonly  well  done,"  she  said, 
with  great  calm.  "  You've  saved  my  life." 

She  no  longer  looked  at  him  while  she  spoke, 
but  patted  and  stroked  the  thoroughbred,  looking 
her  over  with  a  critical  eye. 

"  Oh  —  that's  all  right,"  answered  Lawrence. 
"  Don't  mention  it !  " 

He  laughed   nervously,  still  panting  from  his 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  181 

violent  exertion.  Fanny  herself  was  not  out  of 
breath,  but  the  colour  did  not  come  back  to  her 
sunburnt  cheeks  at  once,  and  her  hand  was 
hardly  steady  yet.  She  did  not  laugh  with 
Lawrence,  nor  even  smile,  but  she  looked  long 
into  his  eyes. 

"  I  may  not  mention  it,  but  I  shan't  forget  it," 
she  said  slowly. 

"  It's  one  to  me,  isn't  it  ?  "  asked  Lawrence, 
who,  in  reality,  was  by  far  the  cooler  and  more 
collected  of  the  two. 

"  How  do  you  mean  ?  "  enquired  Fanny,  knit 
ting  her  brows  half  angrily. 

"One  to  me  —  in  our  game,  you  know,"  said 
the  young  fellow.  "  The  game  we  agreed  to 
play,  yesterday." 

"Yes  —  it's  one  to  you.  By  the  bye  —  you're 
not  hurt  anywhere,  are  you  ?  " 

She  looked  him  over,  as  she  had  looked  over 
her  mare,  with  the  same  critical  glance.  His 
clothes  were  a  little  torn,  here  and  there,  being 
but  light  summer  things,  and  his  hat  had  disap 
peared,  but  it  was  tolerably  clear  that  he  was  in 
no  way  injured. 


182  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"  Oh,  I'm  all  right,"  he  answered  cheerfully. 
"  I  should  think  you'd  feel  badly  shaken,  though," 
he  added,  with  sudden  anxiety. 

"  Not  at  all,"  said  Fanny,  determined  to  show 
no  more  emotion  or  excitement  than  he.  "  It 
was  a  case  of  sitting  still  —  neck  or  nothing. 
It's  nothing,  as  it  happens." 

At  that  moment  Brinsley  appeared,  riding 
slowly  through  the  trees,  for  fear  of  frightening 
the  mare  again. 

"  Are  you  hurt  ?  "  he  shouted. 

Fanny  looked  round,  saw  him,  and  shook  her 
head,  with  a  smile.  Brinsley  trotted  up  and 
sprang  from  his  horse. 

"  Are  you  sure  you're  not  hurt  ? "  he  asked 
again. 

"Not  in  the  least!  " 

"  Thank  God ! "  ejaculated  Brinsley,  with  em 
phasis. 

"  You'd  better  thank  Mr.  Lawrence,  too,"  ob 
served  Fanny,  quietly.  "  He  caught  her  going 
at  a  gallop,  and  hung  on  and  was  dragged.  I 
don't  remember  ever  seeing  anything  quite  so 
plucky." 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  183 

Brinsley  looked  coldly  at  his  rival,  and  his 
beady  eyes  seemed  nearer  together  than  usual 
when  he  spoke  to  him. 

"  I  think  you're  quite  as  much  to  be  congratu 
lated  as  Miss  Trehearne,"  he  said. 

"  Thanks." 

"  We'd  better  be  getting  down  to  the  road 
again,"  said  Fanny.  "  You  can  lead  the  mare 
and  your  own  horse,  too,  Mr.  Brinsley.  She's 
quiet  enough  now,  and  I've  all  I  can  do  to  walk 
in  these  things." 

Brinsley  took  the  mare's  bridle  over  her  head 
and  led  the  way  with  the  two  horses. 

"  Aren't  you  coming  ?  "  asked  Fanny,  seeing 
that  Lawrence  did  not  follow. 

"  Thanks  —  no,"  he  answered.  "  I  must  find 
my  hat,  in  the  first  place." 

Brinsley  looked  over  his  shoulder,  and  saw 
the  two  hanging  back.  He  stopped  a  moment, 
turning,  and  laying  one  hand  on  the  mare's  nose. 

"  You  must  be  shaken,  Mr.  Lawrence,"  he 
said.  "  Why  don't  you  take  the  groom's  horse 
and  ride  home  with  us  ?  " 

"  I    can't    ride,"    answered    the    younger   man, 


184  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

loud  enough  for  Brinsley  to  hear  him.  "  And 
you  know  it  perfectly  well,"  he  added  under  his 
breath. 

.•F«inny  frowned,  but  took  no  further  notice 
of  the  remark. 

"  Good-bye,"  she  said,  holding  out  her  hand 
to  Lawrence.  "  Come  home  as  soon  as  you  can, 
won't  you  ? " 

"Oh  yes  —  that  is,  I  think  I'll  just  see  you 
take  that  fence  again,  and  then  I  want  to  get 
a  little  higher  up  the  hill  and  do  another  bit  of 
a  sketch.  Then  I'll  come  home.  There's  no 
hurry,  is  there? " 

"Don't  show  off,"  said  Fanny,  severely.  "It 
isn't  pretty.  Good-bye." 

She  walked  fast  and  overtook  Brinsley  in  a 
few  moments.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill  he  pre 
pared  to  mount  her,  leaving  his  own,  horse  to 
the  groom.  Then  a  thing  happened  which  he 
was  never  able  to  explain,  though  he  was  an 
expert  in  the  field  and  no  one  could  mount  a 
lady  better  than  he,  of  all  Fanny's  acquaintances. 
He  bent  his  knee  and  held  out  his  hand  and 
stiffened  his  back  and  made  the  necessary  effort 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  185 

just  at  the  right  moment,  as  he  very  well  knew. 
But  for  some  inexplicable  reason  Fanny  did  not 
reach  the  saddle,  nor  anywhere  near  it,  and  she 
slipped  and  would  certainly  have  fallen  if  he  had 
not  caught  her  with  his  other  hand  and  held  her 
on  her  feet. 

"  How  awkward  you  are  !  "  she  exclaimed 
viciously,  with  a  little  stamp.  "  Let  me  get  on 
alone ! " 

And  thereupon,  to  his  astonishment  and  mor 
tification,  she  pushed  him  aside,  set  her  foot  in 
the  stirrup,  —  for  she  was  very  tall  and  could  do 
it  easily,  —  and  was  up  in  a  flash.  Lawrence, 
looking  down  at  them  from  the  edge  of  the 
woods,  saw  what  had  happened,  and  so  did 
Stebbins,  the  groom,  who  grinned  in  silence. 
He  hated  Brinsley,  and  it  is  a  bad  sign  when 
a  good  servant  hates  his  master's  guest.  Law 
rence  felt  that  in  addition  to  scoring  one  in  the 
game,  he  was  avenged  on  his  enemy  for  the 
latter's  taunting  invitation  to  ride. 

"  I  think  I  may  count  that,  and  mark  two. 
I'm  sure  she  did  it  on  purpose,"  he  said  audibly 
to  himself. 


186 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


Before  Brinsley  was  mounted,  Fanny  was  over 
the  fence  with  her  mare,  and  waiting  for  him  in 
the  road. 

"  Oh,  come  along  !  "  she  cried.  "  Don't  be  all 
day  getting  on  !  " 


"  You  needn't  be  so  tremendously  rough  on  a 
fellow,"  said  Brinsley,  as  his  horse  landed  in  the 
road.  "  It  wasn't  my  fault  that  I  wasn't  waiting 
for  a  runaway  under  the  trees  up  there." 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  187 

"  Yes  it  was !  Everything's  your  fault," 
answered  Fanny,  emphatically.  "  No  —  you 
needn't  play  Orlando  Furioso  and  make  papa's 
old  rocking-horse  waltz  like  that.  My  mare's 
got  to  walk  a  mile,  at  least,  for  her  nerves." 

It  didn't  require  Brinsley's  great  natural  pene 
tration  to  tell  him  that  Miss  Fanny  Trehearne 
was  in  the  very  worst  of  tempers  —  even  to  the 
point  of  unfairly  calling  her  papa's  sturdy  Hun 
garian  bad  names.  But  he  could  not  at  all  see 
why  she  should  be  so  angry.  It  had  certainly 
been  her  fault  if  he  had  failed  to  put  her  neatly  in 
the  saddle.  But  her  ill-humour  did  not  frighten 
him  in  the  least,  though  he  was  very  quiet  for 
several  minutes  after  she  had  last  spoken. 

"  It's  not  wildly  gay  to  ride  with  people  who 
don't  talk,"  observed  Fanny. 

"  I  was  trying  to  think  of  something  appro 
priate  to  say,"  answered  Brinsley.  "  But  you're 
in  such  an  awful  rage  — " 

"  Am  I  ?  I  didn't  know  it.  What  makes  you 
think  so  ?  " 

"  What  nerves  you've  got !  "  exclaimed  Brins 
ley,  in  a  tone  of  admiration. 


188  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"  I  haven't  any  nerves  at  all." 

"  I  mean  good  nerves." 

"  I  tell  you  I  haven't  any  nerves.  Why  do 
you  talk  about  nerves  ?  They're  not  amusing 
things  to  have,  are  they  ?  " 

"Well  —  in  point  of  humour — I  didn't  say 
they  were." 

"  I  asked  you  to  say  something  amusing,  and 
you  began  talking  about  nerves,"  said  Fanny, 
in  explanation. 

"  I'm  not  in  luck  to-day,"  said  Brinsley,  after 
a  pause. 

"No  —  you're  not,"  was  the  answer;  but  she 
did  not  vouchsafe  him  a  glance. 

"  I  wish  you'd  like  me,"  he  said  boldly. 

"  I  do  —  at  a  certain  distance.  You  look  well 
in  the  landscape  —  and  you  know  it." 

"  Upon  my  word  !  "  Brinsley  laughed  roughly, 
and  looked  between  his  horse's  ears. 

"  Upon  your  word  — what  ?  " 

"  I  never  had  anything  said  to  me  quite  equal 
to  that,  Miss  Trehearne." 

"  No  ?  I'm  surprised.  Perhaps  you  haven't 
known  the  right  sort  of  people.  You  must  find 
the  truth  refreshing." 


LOVE   IN    IDLENESS. 


Brinsley  waited  a  few  moments  before  speak 
ing,  and  then,  turning  his  head,  looked  at  her 
with  great  earnestness. 

"  I  wish  you'd  tell  me  why  you've  taken  such 
a  sudden  dislike  to  me,"  he  said  in  a  low  voice. 

"  Why  are  you  so  anxious  to  know,  Mr.  Brins 
ley  ?  "  asked  Fanny,  meeting  his  eyes  quietly. 

"  Because  I  believe  that  somebody  has  been 
saying  disagreeable  things  about  me  to  you,"  he 
answered.  "  If  that's  the  case,  it  would  be  fair 
to  give  me  a  chance,  you  know." 

"  Nobody's  been  talking  against  you.  You've 
talked  against  yourself.  Besides,"  she  added, 
her  face  suddenly  clearing,  "it's  quite  absurd 
to  make  such  a  fuss  about  nothing!  I'm  only 
angry  about  nothing  at  all.  It's  my  way,  you 
know.  You  mustn't  mind.  I'll  get  over  it 
before  we're  at  home,  and  then  I'll  go  off,  and 
my  cousins  will  give  you  lots  of  weak  tea  and 
flattery." 

Brinsley,  who  was  clever  at  most  things,  was 
not  good  at  talking  nor  at  understanding  a 
woman's  moods,  and  he  felt  himself  at  so  great 
a  disadvantage  that  he  slipped  into  an  inane 


190     .  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

conversation  about  people  and  parties  without 
succeeding  in  rinding  out  what  he  wished  to 
know.  If  he  had  ever  conceived  any  mad  hope 
of  winning  Fanny's  affections,  he  abandoned  it 
then  and  there.  He  was  still  further  handi 
capped,  had  Fanny  known  it,  by  the  desperate 
state  of  his  own  affairs  at  that  moment ;  and  if 
she  had  known  something  of  his  reflexions,  she 
might  have  pitied  him  a  little  —  what  she  might 
have  thought,  if  she  had  guessed  the  remainder, 
is  hard  to  guess,  for  he  had  a  very  curious 
scheme  in  his  mind  for  improving  his  finances. 
He  had  been  playing  high  for  some  time,  had 
lost  steadily,  and  was  at  the  end  of  his  present 
resources,  which,  with  him,  meant  that  he  was 
at  the  end  of  all  he  had  in  the  world. 

He  was  not  by  any  means  inclined  to  give  up 
the  pleasant  intimacy  he  had  formed  and  fostered 
with  the  three  Miss  Miners,  nor  the  attendant 
luxuries  which  he  had  gained  with  it,  and  the 
introduction  to  Bar  Harbour  society,  which 
meant  good  society  elsewhere.  But  he  felt  that 
he  had  no  choice,  since  the  cards  went  against 
him.  He  was  not  a  sharper.  He  played  fair,  for 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  191 

the  sake  of  the  enjoyment  of  the  thing.  It  was 
his  one  great  passion.  When  he  was  in  luck  he 
won  enough  for  his  extravagant  needs,  for  he  al 
ways  played  high,  on  principle.  But  when  fortune 
foiled  him,  he  had  other  talents  of  a  more  curious 
description,  by  the  exercise  of  which  to  replenish 
his  purse  —  talents,  too,  which  he  had  exercised 
in  America  for  a  long  time.  His  happy  hunting- 
ground  was  really  London,  which  accounted  for 
his  evident  and  almost  extraordinary  familiarity 
with  its  ways.  There  are  indeed  few  places  in 
the  world  where  a  man  may  follow  a  doubtful 
occupation  more  freely  and  more  successfully. 

Before  they  reached  the  Trehearnes'  house, 
Brinsley  had  made  up  his  mind  that  he  must 
drink  his  last  cup  of  tea  with  the  three  Miss 
Miners  on  that  day  or  very  soon  afterwards, 
unless  he  were  to  be  even  more  fortunate  in  his 
undertaking  than  he  dared  to  expect.  The  im 
mediate  consequence  was  an  affectation  of  a  sad 
and  stately  manner  towards  Fanny  as  he  helped 
her  off  her  mare  at  the  door. 

"  I'm  afraid  this  has  been  our  last  ride,"  he 
said,  in  a  subdued  voice. 


192  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"  What  ?  Oh  — '  The  Last  Ride  '  —  Browning 
—  I  remember,"  answered  Fanny. 

"  No  —  I  wasn't  alluding  to  Browning.  I'm 
going  away  very  soon." 

Fanny  stared  at  him  in  some  surprise. 

"Oh!  Are  you?  I  am  very  sorry."  She 
spoke  cheerfully,  and  led  the  way  into  the  house, 
Brinsley  following  her,  with  a  dejected  air. 
"  You'll  probably  find  my  cousins  in  the  library," 
she  added.  "  I'm  going  to  take  off  my  hat—  it's 
so  hot." 

The  three  Miss  Miners  were  assembled,  as 
usual  at  that  hour,  and  greeted  Brinsley  effu 
sively.  Not  wishing  to  be  anticipated  by  Fanny 
in  telling  a  story  altogether  to  Lawrence's  credit, 
he  began  to  tell  the  three  ladies  of  what  had 
happened  during  the  ride.  He  was  very  careful 
to  explain  that  he  had  of  course  not  dared  to 
follow  the  runaway,  lest  he  should  have  made 
matters  much  worse. 

"  It's  quite  dreadful,"  cried  Miss  Cordelia,  on 
hearing  of  Fanny's  narrow  escape.  "  You  should 
never  have  let  her  jump  the  fence  at  all.  What 
do  people  do  such  mad  things  for !  " 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS.  193 

"  If  anything  happened  to  the  child,  we  might 
as  well  kill  ourselves,"  said  Elizabeth.  "  It's  too 
dreadful  to  think  of  !  " 

"  Well,"  answered  Brinsley,  "  nothing  has  hap 
pened,  you  see.  I've  brought  Miss  Trehearne 
safe  home,  though  I  hadn't  the  good  fortune  to 
be  the  man  who  stopped  her  horse.  You  see," 
he  added,  smiling,  "  I  want  all  the  credit  you  can 
spare  from  Mr.  Lawrence.  I'm  afraid  there's  not 
much  to  be  got,  though.  He's  had  the  lion's 
share." 

"  And  where  is  he  ? "  asked  Augusta,  who 
felt  more  sympathy  for  the  artist  than  the 
others. 

"Oh — he'll  come  back.  He  can't  ride,  you 
know,  so  he  had  to  walk,  poor  fellow!  He'd 
been  pretty  badly  shaken,  too,  and  he's  not 
strong,  I'm  sure." 

"You  wouldn't  have  called  him  weak  if  you'd 
seen  him  hanging  on  while  the  mare  dragged 
him,"  said  Fanny,  who  had  entered  unnoticed. 

"  Oh,  that's  only  strength  in  the  hands  !  "  said 
Brinsley,  in  a  depreciative  tone,  and  conscious 
of  his  own  splendid  proportions. 


194 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 


"  Well,  then,  he's  strong  in  the  hands,  that's 
all,"  retorted  Fanny.  "  Please,  some  tea,  Eliza 
beth  dear —  I'm  half  dead." 

The  three  Miss  Miners  did  their  best  to  con 
sole  Brinsley  for  Fanny's  continued  ill-treatment 
of  him,  but  they  did  not  succeed  in  lifting  the 
cloud  from  his  brow-  At  last  he  confessed  that 
he  was  expecting  to  leave  Bar  Harbour  at  any 
moment. 


CHAPTER    XL 

[HERE  were  to  be  fireworks  that  even 
ing  at  the  Canoe  Club  on  the  farther 
side  of  Bar  Island  —  magnificent  fire 
works,  it  was  said,  which  it  would  be 
well  worth  while  to  see.  The  night  was  calm  and 
clear,  and  the  moon,  being  near  the  last  quarter, 
would  not  rise  until  everything  was  over. 

"We'll  go  in  skiffs,"  said  Fanny.  "When 
we're  tired  of  each  other,  we  can  change  about, 
you  know.  Mr.  Lawrence  can  take  one  of  us 
and  Mr.  Brinsley  another,  and  the  other  two 
must  take  one  of  the  men  from  the  landing. 
I  ordered  the  boats  this  morning  when  I  was 
out." 

The  three  Miss  Miners  looked  consciously  at 

'95 


196  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

one  another,  mutely  wondering  how  they  were  to 
divide  Mr.  Brinsley  amongst  them,  and  wishing 
that  they  had  consulted  together  in  private  be 
fore  the  moment  for  decision  had  come.  But  no 
one  suggested  that,  as  there  were  only  four  ladies, 
each  of  the  men  could  very  easily  take  two  in  a 
boat. 

"  We  might  toss  up  to  see  who  shall  take 
whom,"  suggested  Brinsley,  who  had  been  un 
usually  silent  during  the  greater  part  of  dinner. 

"  In  how  many  ways  can  you  arrange  six  peo 
ple  in  couples  ?  "  asked  Fanny. 

Nobody  succeeded  in  solving  the  question,  of 
course.  Even  Elizabeth  Miner,  who  was  consid 
ered  the  clever  member,  gave  it  up  in  despair. 

"  Never  mind  !  "  said  Fanny.  "  We'll  see  how 
it  turns  out  when  we  get  down  to  the  landing- 
stage.  These  things  always  arrange  them 
selves." 

To  the  surprise  of  every  one  except  Fanny  her 
self,  the  arrangement  turned  out  to  be  such  that 
she  and  Miss  Cordelia  went  together  in  the  skiff 
pulled  by  the  sailor,  while  Brinsley  and  Lawrence 
each  took  one  of  the  other  Miss  Miners. 


LOVE   IN    IDLENESS.  199 

"  We'll  change  by  and  by,"  said  Fanny,  as  her 
boat  shoved  off  first  to  show  the  way.  "Keep 
close  to  us  in  the  crowd  when  we  get  over." 

The  distance  from  the  landing,  across  the  har 
bour,  through  the  channel  between  Bar  Island 
and  Sheep  Porcupine  to  the  Canoe  Club,  is  little 
over  half  a  mile;  but  at  night,  amidst  a  crowd  of 
steamers,  large  and  small,  row-boats,  canoes,  and 
sail-boats,  —  the  latter  all  outside  the  channel, — 
it  took  twenty  minutes  to  reach  the  place  where 
the  fireworks  were  to  be. 

Fanny  leaned  back  beside  her  cousin,  and 
watched  the  lights  in  silence.  Yellow,  green,  and 
red,  they  streamed  across  the  brilliant  black  water 
in  every  direction,  the  yellow  rays  fixed  or  mov 
ing  but  slowly,  the  others  gliding  along  swiftly 
above  their  own  reflection,  as  the  paddle  steamers 
thrashed  their  way  through  the  still  sea.  To  left 
and  right  the  shadowy  islands  loomed  darkly 
against  the  black  sky,  outlined  by  the  stars.  The 
warm  damp  air  lifted  the  coolness  from  the  water 
in  little  puffs,  as  the  skiff  slipped  along.  Now 
and  then,  in  the  gloom,  a  boat  showed  dimly 
alongside,  and  the  laughing  voices  of  girls  and 


200  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

boys  told  how  near  it  passed,  a  mere  floating 
dimness  upon  blackness.  The  stroke  of  light 
sculls  swished  and  tinkled  with  the  laughter. 
The  soft  mysterious  charm  of  the  summer  dark 
was  breathed  upon  land  and  water  —  the  distant 
lights  were  love-dreaming  eyes,  and  each  time,  as 
the  oars  dipped,  swept  and  rose,  the  gentle  sound 
was  like  a  stolen  kiss. 

Then,  suddenly,  with  a  wild  screaming  rush, 
a  rocket  shot  up  into  the  night,  splitting  the  sky 
with  a  scar  of  fire.  The  burning  point  of  it 
lingered  a  moment  overhead,  then  cracked  into 
little  stars  that  shed  a  soft  glow  through  the 
gloom,  and  fell  in  a  swift  shower  of  sparks. 
Then  all  was  hushed  again,  and  the  red  and 
green  lights  moved  quickly  over  the  water, 
hither  and  thither.  • 

Close  to  the  shore  of  the  island  the  skiff  ran 
round  the  point  into  the  shallow  water  along  the 
beach,  and  all  at  once  in  the  distance  the  fes 
tooned  lanterns  of  the  Canoe  Club  came  into 
view,  so  bright  that  one  could  distinguish  the 
branches  of  the  spruces  in  the  red  and  yellow 
glare,  and  the  moving  crowd  of  people  on  the 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  203 

little  landing-stage  and  below,  before  the  club 
house.  And  some  two  hundred  yards  out,  the 
lights  began  again,  gleaming  from  hundreds  of 
boats  and  little  vessels  of  all  rigs  and  builds. 
Between  these  seaward  lights  and  those  on  land 
a  deep  black  void  stretched  away  up  French 
man's  Bay. 

Miss  Cordelia  started  nervously  at  the  rockets, 
but  said  nothing.  Fanny  sat  beside  her  in 
silence.  The  sailor,  only  visible  distinctly  when 
the  lights  were  behind  him,  pulled  softly  and 
steadily,  glancing  over  his  shoulder  every  now 
and  then  to  see  that  the  way  was  clear.  The 
other  skiffs  kept  near,  both  Brinsley  and  Law 
rence  being  keenly  on  the  lookout  for  a  change. 
Now  and  then  Fanny  could  hear  them  talking. 

"  I  wonder  why  one  voice  should  attract  one 
and  another  should  be  disagreeable,"  she  said  at 
last,  in  a  meditative  tone. 

"  I  was  thinking  of  the  same  thing,"  answered 
Cordelia,  thoughtfully. 

"Yes,"  said  Fanny,  absently.  "Of  course  you 
were,"  she  added,  a  moment  later.  "  I  mean — " 
She  paused.  "  Poor  dear ! "  she  exclaimed  at 


204  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

last,  stroking  her  cousin's  elderly  hand  in  the 
dark.  "  I'm  so  sorry  !  " 

"  Thank  you,  dear,"  answered  Miss  Miner,  sim 
ply  and  gratefully. 

It  was  little  enough,  but  little  as  it  was  it  made 
them  both  more  silent  than  ever.  With  the  boat 
man  close  before  them,  it  was  impossible  to  talk 
of  what  was  in  their  thoughts.  Fanny,  for  her 
part,  was  glad  of  it.  She  had  understood  her 
old-maid  cousin  since  the  night  when  Cordelia 
had  broken  down  and  laughed  and  cried  in  the 
garden,  and  she  knew  how  little  there  could  be 
to  say.  But  Cordelia  did  not  understand  Fanny 
in  the  least.  It  was  a  marvel  to  her  that  any  one 
should  prefer  Lawrence  to  Brinsley  —  almost  as 
great  a  marvel  as  that  she  herself,  in  her  sober 
middle  age,  should  have  felt  what  she  knew  was 
love  and  believed  to  be  passion. 

And  now,  Brinsley  was  going,  and  it  was  over. 
He  would  never  come  back,  and  she  should  never 
see  him  a^ain  —  she  was  sure  of  that,  she  was 

o 

only  an  old  maid  ;  a  middle-aged  gentlewoman 
who  had  never  possessed  any  great  attraction  for 
anybody;  who  had  always  been  more  or  less  poor 


LOVE   IN    IDLENESS.  205 

and  unhappy,  though  of  the  best  and  living 
amongst  the  best ;  whose  few  pleasures  had  come 
to  her  unexpectedly,  like  rare  gleams  of  pale  sun 
shine  on  a  very  long  rainy  day ;  who  had  looked 
for  little  and  had  got  next  to  nothing  out  of  life, 
save  the  crumbs  of  enjoyment  from  the  feast  of 
rich  relations,  like  the  Trehearnes  —  a  woman 
who  had  known  something  more  grievous  than 
sorrow  and  worse  than  violent  grief,  trudging 
through  life  in  the  leaden  cowl  of  many  limita 
tions —  the  leaden  cowl  of  that  most  innocent  of 
all  hypocrites,  of  her,  or  of  him,  who  knows  the 
daily  burden  of  keeping  up  appearances  on  next 
to  nothing,  and  of  doctoring  poor  little  illusions 
through  a  feeble  existence,  worth  having  because 
they  represent  all  that  there  is  to  have. 

She  had  been  wounded  by  one  of  those  arrows 
shot  in  the  dark  which  hit  hearts  unawares  and 
unaimed ;  and  now  that  the  shaft  was  suddenly 
drawn  out,  the  heart's  blood  followed  it  and  the 
nerves  quivered  where  it  had  been.  It  was  only 
one  of  the  little  tragedies  which  no  one  sees,  few 
guess  at,  and  nothing  can  hinder.  But  Fanny 
Trehearne  felt  that  it  was  beside  her,  there  in  the 


206  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

little  boat,  while  she  watched  the  pretty  fireworks, 
and  she  was  sorry  and  did  what  she  could  to  soothe 
the  pain. 

"  Let's  change,  now,"  she  said  at  last,  just  as 
the  glow  of  a  multitude  of  coloured  fires  died 
away  on  the  water.  "  You  take  Mr.  Brinsley,  and 
I'll  take  Mr.  Lawrence." 

As  she  spoke,  she  gave  her  cousin's  hand  a  lit 
tle  squeeze  of  sympathy,  and  heard  the  small  sigh 
of  satisfaction  that  answered  the  proposal.  The  re 
arrangement  was  effected  in  a  few  moments,  the 
men  holding  the  boats  together  by  the  gunwales 
while  the  ladies  stepped  from  one  into  the  other. 

"  Pull  away,"  said  Fanny,  authoritatively,  as 
soon  as  Lawrence  had  shoved  off.  "  Let's  get 
out  of  this!  I'll  steer,  so  you  needn't  bother 
about  running  into  things." 

Fairly  seated  in  a  boat,  with  the  sculls  shipped, 
and  some  one  at  the  tiller  lines,  Lawrence  could 
get  along  tolerably  well,  for  he  knew  just  enough 
not  to  catch  a  crab  in  smooth  water,  so  long  as 
he  was  not  obliged  to  turn  his  head.  But  if  he 
had  to  look  over  his  shoulder,  something  was 
certain  to  happen,  which  was  natural,  consider- 


LOVE  IN  IDLENESS.  207 

ing  that  when  he  attempted  to  feather  at  all,  he 
did  it  the  wrong  way. 

"  You're  stronger  than  anybody  would  think," 
observed  Fanny,  as  she  saw  how  quickly  the  skiff 
moved.  "  You  might  do  things  quite  decently, 
if  you'd  only  take  the  trouble  to  learn." 

"  Oh  no !  I'm  a  born  duffer,"  laughed  Law 
rence.  "  Besides,  I  couldn't  row  long  like  this. 
I  couldn't  keep  it  up." 

They  were  just  in  front  of  the  club-house  now  ; 
and  a  score  of  rockets  went  up  together,  with  a 
rushing  and  a  crackling  and  a  gleaming,  as  they 
soared  and  burst,  and  at  last  fell  sputtering  in 
the  water  all  around  the  skiff.  Lawrence  had 
rested  on  his  sculls  to  watch  the  sight. 

"Pull  away!  "said  Fanny.  "We'll  get  under 
the  foot-bridge  by  the  landing.  There's  water 
enough  there,  and  we  can  see  everything." 

Lawrence  obeyed,  and  pulled  as  hard  as  he 
could. 

"  So  your  friend  Mr.  Brinsley  is  going  away," 
observed  the  young  girl,  suddenly. 

"  My  friend  !  I  like  that !  As  though  I  had 
brought  him  in  my  pocket." 


208  LOVE  IN   IDLENESS. 

"  I'm  very  glad  that  he's  going,  at  all  events," 
said  Fanny,  without  heeding  his  remark.  "  I'm 
not  fond  of  him  any  more." 

"I  hope  you  never  were  —  fond  of  him." 

"  Oh  yes,  I  was  —  but  I'm  thankful  to  say  that 
it's  over.  Of  all  the  ineffable  cads!  I  could 
have  killed  him  to-day ! " 

"  By  the  bye,"  said  Lawrence,  "  when  he  was 
mounting  you  —  didn't  you  do  that  on  pur 
pose  ? " 

"  Of  course.  And  then  I  called  him  awkward. 
It  was  so  nice !  It  did  me  good." 

"  Pure  spite,  I  suppose.  You  couldn't  have  had 
any  particular  reason  for  doing  it,  could  you  ?  " 

"Oh  dear,  no!  What  reason  could  I  have  ? 
It  wasn't  his  fault  that  the  mare  ran  away, 
though  I  told  him  it  was." 

"  That's  interesting,"  observed  Lawrence.  "  Do 
you  often  do  things  out  of  pure  spite  ?  " 

"Constantly  —  without  any  reason  at  all!" 
Fanny  laughed. 

"  Perhaps  you'll  marry  out  of  spite,  some  day," 
said  Lawrence,  calmly.  "  Women  often  do,  they 
say,  though  I  never  could  understand  why." 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

"  I  daresay  I  shall.  I'm  quite  capable  of  it. 
And  shouldn't  I  be  just  horrid  afterwards!" 

"  I  like  you  when  you're  horrid,  as  you  call  it. 
I  didn't  at  first.  You've  given  my  sense  of 
humour  a  chance  to  grow  since  I've  been  here. 
I  say,  Miss  Trehearne  —  "  He  stopped. 

"  What  do  you  say  ?  It  isn't  particularly 
polite  to  begin  in  that  way,  is  it?  I  suppose 
it's  English." 

"  Oh,  bother  the  English  !  And  I  apologize  for 
being  slangy.  It's  so  dark  that  I  can't  see  you 
frown.  I  meant  to  say,  if  you  ever  marry  out 
of  spite,  and  want  to  be  particularly  horrid  after 
wards,  it  wouldn't  be  a  bad  idea  to  marry  me,  for 
I  don't  mind  that  sort  of  thing  a  bit,  you  know." 

"  That's  a  singular  offer !  "  laughed  Fanny, 
leaning  far  back,  and  playing  with  the  tiller  lines 
in  the  glow  of  the  Bengal  lights. 

"  It's  genuine  of  its  kind,"  answered  the  young 
man.  "  Of  course  it  isn't  a  sure  thing,  exactly," 
he  added  reflectively,  "because  it  depends  on 
your  happening  to  be  in  the  spiteful  humour. 
But,  as  you  say  that  often  happens  — " 

11  Well,  go  on  !  " 


2lo  LOVE  IN  IDLENESS. 

"  I  thought  you  might  feel  spiteful  enough  to 
accept  this  evening,"  concluded  Lawrence. 

"  Take  care — I  might,  you  know  —  you're  in 
danger  !  "  She  was  still  laughing. 

"  Don't  mind  me,  you  know !  I  could  stand 
it,  I  believe." 

"You're  awfully  amusing  —  sometimes,  Mr. 
Lawrence." 

"  Meaning  now  ? "  enquired  the  artist,  resting 
on  his  sculls,  for  they  were  under  the  shadow  of 
the  bridge. 

"  I  can't  see  your  face  distinctly,"  answere'd 
Fanny.  "So  much  depends  on  the  expression. 
But  I  think  —  " 

"  What  do  you  think  ?  That  it's  awfully  amus 
ing  of  me  to  offer  to  be  married  as  a  sacrifice,  to 
your  spite  ? " 

"  It's  amusing  anyway." 

"  A  formal  proposal  would  be,  you  mean  ? " 
asked  Lawrence.  Then  he  laughed  oddly. 

11 1  hate  formality,"  answered  Fanny.  "  That 
is,  in  earnest,  you  know.  It's  so  disgusting 
when  a  man  comes  with  his  gloves  buttoned  and 
sits  on  the  edge  of  a  chair  and  says  —  " 


LOVE  IN  IDLENESS. 


"  And  say  what  ?  " 

"Oh  —  you    know    the    sort    of    thing, 
must  have  done  it  scores  of  times." 


211 


You 


"  What  ?  Proposed  and  been  refused  ?  You're 
complimentary,  at  all  events.  I've  a  great  mind 
to  let  you  be  the  first,  just — well — how  shall 


2l2  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

I  say  ?  Just  to  associate  you  with  a  novel  sen 
sation." 

"  I  might  disappoint  you,"  said  Fanny,  de 
murely.  "  I  told  you  so  before.  Just  think,  if 
I  were  to  say  '  yes,'  you'd  be  most  dreadfully 
caught.  You'd  have  to  eat  humble  pie  and  beg 
off,  and  say  that  you  hadn't  meant  it." 

"  Oh  no !  "  laughed  the  young  man.  "  You'd 
break  it  off  in  a  week,  and  then  it  would  be 
all  right." 

"  Are  you  going  to  be  rude  ?  Or  are  you, 
already  ?  I'm  not  quite  sure." 

"  Neither.  Of  course  you'd  break  it  off,  if 
we  had  an  agreement  to  that  effect." 

"  You  don't  make  any  allowance  for  my  spite- 
fulness.  It  would  be  just  like  me  to  hold  you 
to  your  engagement.  Of  course  you  wouldn't 
live  loner.  We  should  be  sure  to  fi^ht." 

o  o 

"  Oh  —  sure,"  assented  Lawrence.  "  That  is, 
if  you  call  this  fighting." 

"  It  would  be  worse  than  this.  But  why  don't 
you  try  ?  I'm  dying  to  refuse  you.  I'm  just  in 
the  humour." 

"  Why  !   I  thought  you  said  there  was  danger ! 


-I 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  215 

If    I'd    known    there  wasn't  — by   the    bye,    this 
counts  in  the  game,  doesn't  it?" 

"  There  isn't  anything  to  count,  yet,"  said 
Fanny.  "  Look  at  those  fiery  fish  —  aren't  they 
pretty  ?  See  how  they  squirm  about,  and  fizzle, 
and  behave  like  mad  things !  Oh,  I  never  saw 
anything  so  pretty  as  that  !  " 

"  Yes.  If  one  must  have  an  interruption,  they 
do  as  well  as  anything." 

"You  weren't  talking  very  coherently,  I  be 
lieve,"  said  the  young  girl,  turning  her  head 
to  watch  the  fireworks.  "And  you've  made 
me  miss  lots  of  pretty  things,  I'm  sure.  Oh 
—  they've  gone  out  already!  How  dark  it 
seems,  all  at  once !  What  were  you  asking  ? 
Whether  this  counted  in  the  game  ?  Of  course 
it  counts.  Everything  does.  But  I  don't  ex 
actly  see  how  —  " 

She  stopped  and  looked  towards  him  in  the 
dim  gloom  of  the  shadow  under  the  bridge. 
But  Lawrence  did  not  speak.  He  looked  over 
the  side  of  the  boat,  softly  slapping  the  black 
water  with  the  blade  of  his  scull. 

"  Why  don't  you  go  on  ?  "  asked   Fanny,    tap- 


216  LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 

ping  the  boards  under   her  foot  to    attract   his 
attention. 

"  I  was  thinking  over  the  proper  words," 
answered  Lawrence.  "  How  does  one  make  a 
formal  proposal  of  marriage  ?  I  never  did  such 
a  thing  in  my  life." 

"  An  informal  one  would  do  for  fun." 

"  I  never  did  that,  either." 

"  Never  ?  " 

"  Never." 

"  Really  ?  Swear  it,  as  they  say  on  the  stage." 
Fanny  laughed  softly. 

"Oh,  by  Jove,  yes!"  answered  Lawrence, 
promptly.  "  I'll  swear  to  that  by  anything  you 
please." 

"Well  —  you'll  have  to  do  it  some  day,  so 
you'd  better  practise  at  once,"  suggested  Fanny. 

Lawrence  did  not  notice  that  there  was  a 
sort  of  little  relief  in  her  tone. 

"  I  suppose  one  says,  '  My  angel,  will  you 
be  mine?'"  he  said.  "That  sounds  like  some 
book  or  other." 

"  It  might  do,"  answered  Fanny,  meditatively. 
"You  ought  to  throw  a  little  more  expression 


LOVE  IN   IDLENESS.  217 

into  the  tone.  Besides,  I'm  not  an  angel,  what 
ever  the  girl  in  the  book  may  have  been.  On 
the  whole  —  no  —  it's  a  little  too  effusive.  Angel 
-  you  know.  It's  such  nonsense !  Try  some 
thing  else ;  but  put  lots  of  expression  into  it." 

"  Does  one  get  down  on  one's  knees  ? "  enquired 
Lawrence. 

"  Oh  no ;  I  don't  believe  it's  necessary.  Be 
sides,  you'd  upset  the  boat." 

"  All  right — here  goes!  My  dear  Miss  Tre- 
hearne,  will  you  —  " 

"  Yes.  That's  it.  Go  on.  The  quaver  in 
the  voice  is  rather  well  done.  '  Will  you  — ' 
What  ?  " 

"  W7ill  you  marry  me  ?  " 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Lawrence,  I   will." 

There  was  a  short  pause,  during  which  a  num 
ber  of  fiery  fish  were  sent  off  again,  and  squirmed 
and  wriggled  and  fizzled  their  burning  little  lives 
away  in  the  water.  But  neither  of  the  young 
people  looked  at  them. 

"  You  rather  took  my  breath  away,"  said  Law 
rence,  with  a  change  of  tone.  "  Did  I  do  it  all 
right  ?  " 


218 


LOVE   IN   IDLENESS. 


"Oh  —  quite  right,"  answered  Fanny,  thought 
fully. 

Immediately  after  the  words  Lawrence  heard 
a  little  sigh.  Then  Fanny  heard  one,  too. 

u  You  didn't  happen  to  be  in  earnest,  did 
you  ?  "  she  asked  suddenly,  in  a  low,  soft  voice. 

"  Well  —  I  didn't  mean —  that  I  meant  —  you 
know  we  agreed  to  play  a  game  — 

"  I  know  we  did  —  but  —  were  you  in  earnest  ?  " 

"  Yes  —  but,  of  course  -  Oh,  this  isn't  fair, 
Miss  Trehearne ! " 

"  Yes,  it  is.     I  said  '  yes,'  didn't  I  ?  " 

"  Certainly,  but  - 

"  There's  no  '  but.'  I  happened  to  be  in 
earnest,  too  —  that's  all.  I've  lost  the  game." 


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